


Reunion

by ErstwhileSky



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Anxious Zim, Definitely deals with themes of depression and regret and life not going as expected, Depressed Dib, Everyone is sad and has a lot of feelings okay?, It gets happier though, M/M, Romance is on the fluffier side, Slow Burn, Unhappy family dynamics, ZaDr
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-04-17
Packaged: 2019-03-02 08:30:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 42,118
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13314393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErstwhileSky/pseuds/ErstwhileSky
Summary: “What do you say to your sworn enemy when he shows up on your doorstep after vanishing for six years, and proceeds to tell you that you’re the only one whp can help him? Well, "go to hell" comes to mind. But I hadn’t told Zim to go to hell. Call it curiosity about where the hell he’d been all this time, or nostalgia, or whatever. I didn’t really know why I’d let him in, but there we were.”Zim and Dib make trouble, fall in love, and save the universe. Gaz, Skoodge, and Lard Nar do some awesome stuff too.On Break:I'm taking a bit of a break from writing while I handle some unexpected life stuff. This fic is still very important to me, and I plan to get back to writing it soon. Thanks for all the support and kind words! I hope can update soon!





	1. Old Enemies

Zim paced back and forth across my small living room. He looked like an animal in a cage: agitated and ready to attack, but also afraid. His clothing was dirty and torn, his wig was a tangle of twigs and leaves, and several bruises stood out on his face. It looked like someone had taken a good swing at him, possibly after throwing him off a roof. It had been a long time since I’d seen him like that. It had been a long time since I’d seen him at all.

I’d woken to the buzzing of the intercom and found him standing outside my apartment building, huddled under the small overhang to keep out of the rain. I hadn’t intended to let him in, but what do you say to your sworn enemy when he shows up on your doorstep after vanishing for six years, and proceeds to tell you that you’re the only one who can help him? Well, _"go to hell"_ comes to mind. But I hadn’t told Zim to go to hell. Call it curiosity about where the hell he’d been all this time, or nostalgia, or whatever. I didn’t really know why I’d let him in, but there we were.

“What happened?” I asked. Not out of concern for him, but because I needed to know what shit he was getting me involved in.

“I told you!” Zim shouted, rounding on me. “My base was compromised!”

“Hey!” I shouted back. “I can’t help if you won’t tell me what’s going on!” It probably wouldn’t accomplish anything to yell at Zim, but I hadn’t let him in just to be screamed at in my own living room. If he didn’t want to play nice, he could go right back out in the rain.

To my surprise, he didn’t retaliate, just huffed and paced back to the other side of the room.

“I can’t tell you the details,” he snapped.

“Then what _can_ you tell me?”

“All you need to know is that my ship is damaged. I can’t access my base, so I can’t repair it.” He squinted angrily out the window.

“And?” I had a feeling where this was going, and I didn’t like it.

“ _And_ I need to repair it!” He slammed a hand against the wall and I had to bite back an outburst of my own. If he started breaking things, he was out.

“What do you expect _me_ to do? Does this look like a spaceship repair shop?”

Zim glanced around my apartment, as if actually considering the question. “I need access to your labs. This filthy planet is so primitive, there aren’t any other facilities within range that have the tools I need.”

 _Of course_ that was what Zim was after. Just my luck.

“My _Dad’s_ labs, you mean?”

Zim waved a dismissive hand. “Whatever, human. I need them.”

I crossed my arms tightly across my chest and sank into the couch. I didn’t want to explain this to Zim--not at two in the morning, huddled on a moth-eaten couch in my pajamas. “Well that’s too bad. I can’t let you use them.”

Zim made a strangled noise and looked ready to start yelling again, so I spoke before he could.

“I don’t have access to them, Zim. I haven’t spoken to my Dad in years. I can’t just walk in and ask to use his stuff.”

Zim hunched his shoulders and tapped irritably on the window. “Then we won’t ask.”

“ _Zim._ ” I rubbed a hand over my eyes. I didn’t want to explain this to Zim. He didn’t have a family, he wouldn’t understand.

“This is important, human!” Zim spun away from the window and resumed pacing. “I wouldn’t be... _here..._ If I had any other options.” He spat the words, as if they were painful to say. Zim had never been good at admitting he needed help.

“I don’t see why I should help you anyway. If your ship’s damaged it just means you can’t use it for...whatever you’re up to these days.” Yeah, that was a good point. I shouldn’t really be helping Zim at all.

“If you’re concerned about your disgusting planet, don’t be.” Zim poked aggressively at the contents of my bookshelf. I had the feeling he was avoiding looking at me. “I have far more important things to do than eliminate your pathetic race, satisfying as it would be.”  

“You...do?” That was...new. As long as I’d known Zim, all he’d cared about was conquering Earth. If he didn’t want to destroy the Earth anymore, why was he even still here? And what had changed?

“Yes! I do!” Zim glared at me over his shoulder. “Like fixing the voot runner!”

“Stop yelling!” I yelled. Zim fumed. I ran my hands through my hair, trying to wrap my head around any of this. Why was I even talking to Zim, let alone considering helping him? Why had I even let him into my apartment?

“It’s not as though you get nothing out of this, _Dib.”_ Zim stood facing the bookshelf again, hands clasped in fists behind his back.

“What the hell are you talking about, Zim?” I didn’t see how he could possibly spin this into anything good for me.

“Once the runner is repaired, I’m leaving your filthy planet.”

Oh.

“What?”

“I’m leaving! And it’s none of your business! I just need to use your labs and then I’m going. That’s what you want, isn’t it?”

Yeah, that was right. That’s what I’d wanted my entire childhood, wasn’t it? I’d spent more time trying to get rid of Zim than anything else, really. And then he’d just disappeared. After all the fighting and scheming it had just ended--one day Zim was there, the next he was gone--his base, his weird little robot, everything. And instead of getting rid of Zim, suddenly all I’d wanted was to find him.

At first I’d thought it was part of some new plot, that if I just looked hard enough or found the right clues there he’d be, but after two years without any sign of him, I’d realized he wasn’t coming back. I thought maybe he’d been recalled by his people or something. I’d told myself it was a good thing, that it meant Earth was safe and I’d finally won. But it hadn’t felt like winning somehow.

But no matter how much time passed, some part of me had always expected him to show up again. And now he had, and I didn’t know how I should feel about it. I had so many questions. Where had he been all this time, if he hadn’t left? What had he been doing? Why had he disappeared without… without what? Admitting defeat? Saying goodbye? For everything to just end like it had, it felt... Incomplete. Like the book of my life had been torn down the middle and I was missing the second half. A story without an ending.

Zim was glaring at me, waiting for a reply.

“You’re leaving Earth? What about your mission?” I’d never expected Zim to leave Earth voluntarily. I’d always imagined it would happen in some epic battle where I’d banish him through superior whatever.

Zim folded his arms and glanced away. “I have a new mission.”

There was a moment where he looked almost...sad? And then he looked back at me and he was every bit the arrogant Zim I remembered.

“A _better_ mission,” He boasted with a grin. “My talents are finally being recognized. I won't be wasting any more of my time on this pathetic excuse for a planet.”

A new mission? Did that mean the Earth was safe now?

“What about your people? Do they still want to conquer Earth? Are they sending someone to replace you?” I didn’t really expect Zim to supply me with answers, but I had to try. Maybe Zim leaving wasn’t such a good thing if it meant new, unknown dangers would replace him.

Zim’s eyes darted back and forth almost...nervously. “The Irken Empire has greater concerns than wiping out such an insignificant blemish as Earth. I doubt you’ll have anything to worry about, at least for a few decades.” He waved a hand dismissively.

“Oh.” That wasn’t exactly the answer I’d been hoping for, but it did mean there would be time to prepare for an invasion, if one was coming. That was good, right?

“So...you just need your ship, and then you’re gone forever?” There might be some merit to this, after all. I plucked at the frayed edges of the couch, considering.

“That’s what I’ve been saying, _human!_ ”

We stared at each other, tension building with every moment of silence. I knew he wasn’t telling me everything. This was probably some kind of trap, some new scheme to destroy Earth or me or something. I could avoid all of that. I could sit on my couch and pretend aliens didn’t want to destroy my planet and that I had nothing to do with any of this. Without Zim, my life was almost normal, and things could stay that way.

“Okay.” I knew it was a mistake the instant I spoke the word, and it scared me a little that I didn’t care. But there wasn’t anything he could have asked in that moment that I would have said no to, short of killing babies or something. There simply didn’t exist a world in which I could let Zim walk away and not find out how all of this would end. Not this time.

Zim eyed me suspiciously.

“But we can’t use my Dad’s labs.” I stood up and started pulling open drawers at my workbench. “We can probably get started with what I have here, but we’ll need to find the rest somewhere else.”

I didn’t have access to the kinds of resources I’d once had, but there was bound to be something we could use. I had a decent idea what we’d need from the work I’d done on Tak’s ship, years ago. Too bad I didn’t have it anymore, or we could have borrowed some components.

“Where’s your ship now?” I asked as I piled supplies into a box.

“Hidden,” Zim said, peering into the box disapprovingly.

“Okaaay… We talkin hidden in the alley behind my apartment, or in a forest five miles out of town?”

“Close by,” Zim muttered. Why was he being cagey? He was the one who’d wanted my help with this.

“Fine, just wait here a minute.” I retreated to my bedroom to put on something other than pajamas. I half expected to hear sounds of destruction from the living room the moment I turned my back, but everything was quiet.

When I returned, Zim was poking at a snowglobe on my coffee table. He startled when he noticed me.

“Come on,” I said, hoisting the box of supplies into my arms. Zim followed me in irritable silence as I led us into the hall and locked the door.

I couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever been so quiet. The silence amplified the strangeness of the whole situation, and I almost wished one of us would yell again just so things would feel normal.

We trailed down the narrow stairwell until we reached the parking garage. I put the box of supplies in the back of my car and got in the driver’s seat. Zim stood awkwardly in the parking lot, eyeing the car like it was something dangerous.

I popped open the passenger-side door and leaned over. “Come on, get in.”

He hesitated.

“Zim, do you want to walk the whole way in the rain? ‘Cause I don’t. Just get in.”

He glowered but got in.

“Okay, now where the hell are we going?”

 

*  *  *

 

It turned out that when Zim said the ship was hidden, he meant that he had crashed it into an abandoned warehouse. Technically it wasn’t visible from the street, but the gaping hole in the side of the building was kind of conspicuous.

Zim scampered into the warehouse ahead of me, arms held over his head to keep the rain off his face. I followed cautiously, all too aware that this could be some kind of trap. Something about all of this really didn’t add up, and I was probably playing right into whatever Zim’s game was.

He wasn’t lying about the ship, at least. It lay in a crumpled heap in the middle of the empty warehouse. As we approached, delighted shrieking filled the air and Gir rounded the ship, making a beeline for Zim. I took immediate evasive action, nearly dropping the box of supplies, but Zim just put his hands on his hips as Gir slid to a stop and plopped down at his feet.

“Master! I missed you!” He flailed his arms in apparent glee.

“Gir, I trust you kept the temporary base secure?” Zim asked with every appearance of seriousness.

“I did!” Gir shouted before racing off again.

“Stay close, Gir!” Zim shouted after him. “We can’t risk being noticed!”

Gir hummed from some unseen corner of the warehouse. I couldn’t tell if he was acknowledging Zim’s warning, or if he hadn’t even heard. Zim seemed satisfied, however.

“As you can see, the runner is in need of serious repairs,” he said, turning to me. “And your box of... _junk_ isn’t going to be enough.”  He gave the box a look of disgust that grated my already strained nerves.

“Hey, I’m doing the best I can here,” I snapped. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected, Zim was never grateful. It was like he wasn’t even capable of it. Though, admittedly, the ship did look bad. It was covered in dents and scratches, and in several places panels were missing completely, exposing wiring and circuitry. Zim was right that the supplies I’d brought wouldn’t cut it.

“How did this even happen?” I set the box down next to the ship and ran a hand through my hair as I surveyed the damage. It was a mess.

“I had to make an emergency landing,” Zim grumbled.

“Yeah, no kidding.” There was more though. The ship had definitely been damaged by crashing through the warehouse, but there were scorch marks on the hull that looked like they’d been made by energy weapons. And there, where half of the thruster was melted, didn’t that look like it was from a laser canon?

“Zim, this didn’t all come from a bad landing. What’s going on?”

“It’s none of your business, _Dib-Thing!”_

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t care about your stupid mission secrets, Zim. I just need to know that I’m not gonna get blown up by whoever turned your ship into swiss cheese.”  

Zim huffed and scrunched up his face. It made him look like a an angry frog. “The sooner the runner is fixed, the safer we’ll _both_ be,” He said through gritted teeth.

“Wait, wait.” I held up my hands. “So someone _is_ after you? And they might be coming _back?”_ What had I gotten myself into?

“This is why I wanted access to your labs!” He clenched his fists at his sides.

“Well, that’s not an option, so we’ll just have to figure something out.”

“Or, you could take me to your labs!”

“Zim—" I was about to say something about shutting up and doing something useful, but the words died on my lips as a loud hum suddenly filled the air around us. The whole warehouse vibrated with it. Gir came rushing out from whatever corner he had been hiding in, shrieking. He ran in circles around Zim, who stood frozen in fear, staring up at the ceiling.

I couldn’t remember a time when I’d seen this kind of terror in Zim’s eyes. We’d been through a lot, done a lot of messed up shit to each other, but this was something I’d never witnessed. And it scared me.

I followed his gaze to the ceiling. Through the cracks in the old roof a bright light seeped through, like someone was shining a spotlight on us.

“Zim, what is that?” I shouted over the hum that had become more of a roar.

Zim slowly lowered his gaze to me, his eyes wide. He didn’t say anything, just stared at me in some kind of terror coma.

Then the roof started crumbling in and it didn’t matter anymore what it was, all that mattered was getting the hell out of the warehouse. I bolted for Zim, grabbing his arm and sprinting as fast as I could for the exit. Zim kept pace, and we jumped the last few feet just as a mess of rotten planks and rusty beams crashed to the ground where we’d been standing only moments before. I lost my footing and tumbled forward, taking Zim with me. We rolled down a small incline and sprawled on the sidewalk.

I scrambled to my feet and spun to face the warehouse. Above the roof hovered a large spacecraft. Two long, leg like appendages extended from it, and they were cutting through the roof.

As I watched, the last of the roof collapsed inward and a huge beam of energy burst from the ship. It shot into the warehouse and exploded in a flash of red light. Before I realized what was happening, the shockwave hit me, and I was sent flying into the street.

I tried to cover my head as I struck the road.The world slowed down around me as I slid across the rough pavement. I felt my glasses slip off and heard them clatter away.

When things came back into focus, my arm felt raw where it had dragged against the ground, and Zim was shouting something, his words punctured by shrieks from Gir, making it impossible to figure out what he was saying.

I pushed myself to my feet, shaking slightly from the adrenaline. Zim had stopped shouting and was holding a hand over Gir’s mouth in an apparent attempt to keep him quiet. Gir squirmed in his grip, clearly unhappy with the situation.

The ship still loomed above us, it's magenta hull contrasted against the dark sky.

“Zim, we have to get out of here!”

Zim seemed to agree. Four metal legs sprang from his back, and he took off down the street, away from the ship, without so much as a glance in my direction.

“Zim! The car!” I shouted after him. He either didn’t hear me, or didn’t care, because the next moment he had disappeared into a nearby alley, Gir still clutched in his arms. The _idiot,_ he couldn’t outrun a spaceship. I snatched my glasses off the ground and sprinted to my car--which had thankfully remained unharmed--and threw myself into the driver’s seat. In the rearview mirror, I saw the ship lift up from the warehouse roof, its long legs retracting. I didn’t wait to see what it would do next, I slammed my foot on the gas and sped away as fast as I could.

A block down, I caught sight of Zim crashing out of an alley at top speed. He had dropped Gir, but the little robot seemed to have caught on that running was a good idea and was keeping pace. I swerved into their path and slammed on the breaks. The car shrieked as it came to a stop. Zim reeled back, nearly toppling over as he avoided crashing into me.

I flung open the passenger door. “Get in!”

Zim glanced over his shoulder, and we both saw the ship at the same time--it slid through the air above the alley Zim had just left, floodlight skimming the ground, searching.

_“Zim!”_

I watched as indecision played across his face, then in a fluid swoop he ducked into the car, metal legs retracting. Gir bounded after him, crashing painfully into my shoulder as he propelled himself into the car. I hit the gas and we flew away from the alley, the car fishtailing as I took a corner much too fast.

“What the hell is going on!?” I shouted as I barely avoided crashing into oncoming traffic. I didn’t dare slow down.

“Just get us out of here!” Zim had turned around in his seat and was staring out the back window.

“Is it still back there?” I couldn’t risk taking my eyes off the road to check.

“I don’t see it,” Zim said, but he didn’t sound reassured.

We made it several blocks with no sign of the ship before the adrenaline began to wear off and I decided I had to stop. I pulled onto a side street and let the engine idle as I tried to catch my breath and waited for my hands to stop shaking.

“What are you doing?” Zim hissed. “They’ll find us! Keep driving!”

“I just need a minute, okay?” Judging by his scowl, Zim did _not_ think that was okay. Screw him.

“And it wouldn’t hurt for you to explain why the hell a spaceship is shooting death beams at us,” I added, wiping sweat from my face.

Zim hugged his legs to his chest and glared at me. In the backseat, it sounded like Gir was trying to eat old food wrappers. For a long moment the crinkle of plastic was the only sound in the car.

“Zim, look,” I drew both hands down my face, letting out a heavy sigh, “just tell me what’s going on. I can’t help if I don’t know what we’re dealing with. And I don’t really want to be blown up by aliens.”

When I looked at him, he wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“They’re here for me.” The words were so quiet I barely heard them. Zim’s arms tightened around his knees. I waited.

“They’re here for _me,_ ” he said louder, almost indignantly.

“And now my ship is _gone!_ ” He growled the words, glaring at me accusingly. “If you’d listened to me and let me take the ship to your lab, this wouldn’t have happened!”

I should have been angry at him. I’d probably just saved his life, and all he could do was hurl accusations at me. But he looked so pathetic, huddled in the corner of his seat, covered in dust and bits of rubble. I almost felt sorry for him.

I sighed and rested my hands on the steering wheel. A car drove past, and I caught a brief glimpse of the driver before they slipped away down the street. I wondered if they’d noticed the spaceship the size of a semi roaming the skies, or if their world was blissfully free of aliens and death beams and two AM visits from old enemies.

“Zim?”

“Eh?”

“Are you hungry?”

Zim gave me a confused look. In the backseat, Gir cackled gleefully.

“Let’s get some breakfast.”

 

*  *  *

 

There weren’t a lot of restaurants open at four in the morning. We ended up at an all-night diner with sticky floors and terrible food, but we were the only people there and the waitstaff were too tired to question the two customers covered in dirt and blood, or their weird green dog, so it was probably for the best.

Zim sat awkwardly across from me, surveying the restaurant with mild curiosity. Once we’d determined that the spaceship seemed to have lost track of us, Zim had settled down somewhat. He seemed more confused now than agitated, which was fair: having breakfast with Zim wasn’t exactly something I’d expected to be doing either, but I was starving and I wasn’t sure going back to my place was a good idea just yet. I didn’t need aliens blowing up my apartment.

And quite honestly, I wasn’t ready for whatever this was to be over. I wanted to know what was really going on, I wanted to know where Zim had been for the last six years, and I wanted to know why he was leaving _now_. I had a million questions, and they would all go unanswered if I let Zim slip away. So here I was, eating breakfast at four in the morning with an alien while a crazy robot dressed as a dog giggled under the table.

“Um, so, you can get whatever you want. It’s on me.” I figured Zim wouldn’t have any money, and right then getting some food in my stomach with minimum hassle was my primary goal.

Zim shot me an irritated look. “I don’t want your disgusting dirt-food.”

“Fine, go hungry.” I studied the menu. Under the table, Gir wailed something about pancakes.

“Can you keep him quiet? Dogs aren’t supposed to yell about pancakes.” I glanced at the waiter working the front counter, but he didn’t seem to have noticed anything.

 _“Gir!”_ Zim hissed. Gir poked his head up beside Zim and giggled manically. Zim shoved him back under the table, where he finally quieted down.

A waiter appeared to take our order. Nothing really looked that palatable, so I just went with the house special.

“Bring me pancakes, food slave,” Zim said, tapping his fingers impatiently on the table. The waiter gave him a dirty look but left without comment.

“I thought you weren’t hungry,” I said, flipping through the dessert menu.

“They’re for Gir,” he said sourly, watching one of the large televisions mounted around the dining room. It was playing the news--just boring stuff about politics and sports. Nothing about spaceships blowing up warehouses.

“So, are you going to tell me why a spaceship tried to vaporize you?”

“No.” Zim kept watching the TV, head propped on one hand.

I hadn’t really expected an answer. “Okay. Will you tell me where you’ve been for the last six years, then?”

Zim seemed to consider this. Briefly. “No.”

I wasn’t going to give up that easily. “You just disappeared. Were you reassigned or something?”

“Cease your noises, _Dib.”_ There was an edge to his voice, and I suddenly worried that I might push him too far if I wasn’t careful. There was nothing to keep him from leaving, after all, not now that his ship had been destroyed. He didn’t need my help anymore. He could disappear again, and this time he might never come back and I’d have wasted my opportunity to learn the truth. So we sat in silence until our food came.

The house special was some kind of omelette filled with things I couldn’t identify. Gir screamed in delight over the pancakes, and despite my protest that it wasn’t normal for dogs to eat at tables, Zim let Gir sit in the booth as he devoured them.

I made sure to leave a decent tip to make up for the mess Gir left.

By the time we got back outside it had stopped raining, and the sun was just starting to rise. We paused by my car, an unspoken question filling the space between us: what now?

I cleared my throat, feeling that one of us should say something. “So, that ship’s probably coming back, huh?”

Zim crossed his arms. “That’s none of your concern, Dib.”

Considering that I had almost been crushed by a warehouse, thrown across a street, and risked a high-speed car accident because of the damned thing, it felt a lot like my concern. But Zim wasn’t likely to see it that way.

“Oh, that’s too bad. I was just hoping to invite the pilot to the We Want To Destroy Zim Club.” It was supposed to be a joke, but it hung awkwardly in the air and I wished I hadn’t said it. Zim just looked at me, expressionless.

“They no like my master.”

I looked down at Gir. He looked back up at me, eyes wide and deceptively innocent.

“Who doesn’t like him?”

“The scary guys.”

 _“Gir!”_ Zim shouted, rounding on Gir. He just stared at Zim, uncomprehending.

“Who are the scary guys?” I peered around Zim, who had stepped between us.

“They were mean. They made our house go all splodey.”

“Be _quiet,_ Gir!” Zim snapped. He shoved me back, away from Gir, and snarled.

“Hey!” Instinctively my hands balled into fists, and for a moment I felt like a kid again, about to get in a fight with Zim in the school yard. It brought me back to reality in a sharp way. What the hell was I even doing?

“What’s your problem?”

 _“You_ are!” Zim shouted. It was a childish thing to say, but an even more childish thing to let it get to me. Zim had a way of bringing that out in me.

“Oh really? _I’m_ your problem?” I took a step forward and he bristled like an animal ready to attack. “Because it looks to me like your problem is that someone is trying to kill you, and you can’t even be enough of a fucking person to explain what’s going on to the only person on this whole planet who gives enough of a shit to even considering helping you!”

“I don’t need your help! I don’t need anyone!”

I wanted to punch him, to smash his stupid face into the pavement and walk away. Didn’t need anyone, huh? Yeah, that was why he’d shown up begging me to fix his stupid ship. But fine, if that was how he wanted it, that was just fine. I wasn’t going to stick my neck out for him if I was going to get this in return.

“Fine, keep your stupid secrets. None of this is my problem.” I pushed past him and yanked the car door open. I left the two of them standing there, alone in the diner parking lot, and drove home.

 

*  *  *

 

When I got back to my apartment I collapsed into bed and pulled the covers over my head to block out the morning light. I really needed to get ready for work, and I really couldn’t have cared less. I was exhausted, and angry, and slightly sick from the house special, and I just wanted to sleep for a hundred years and not think about anything.

I didn’t dream, and when I woke up, the sun had set and there were three missed calls on my phone from work. I didn’t listen to the messages. I’d deal with it tomorrow.

The morning’s events felt surreal and distant. Nearly getting blown up, being chased by a spaceship, eating breakfast with _Zim--_ yeah, it would have been easy to call it all a dream and get on with my life. Except for the cuts and bruises, and the ball of anger and regret roiling in my gut like a bad meal. Although that last part might just have been the diner food.

I tried to distract myself, but I couldn’t stop thinking about, just, _everything._ I knew it didn’t make any sense to be angry at Zim for not telling me what was going on. After all, it wasn’t like he had any reason to trust me. It was just that we had been through a lot together, and while, yes, most of that had been us trying to kill each other, it still felt like it counted for something. We’d grown up together, in a bizarre sort of way. And even though we weren’t friends, Zim had still come to _me_ when he needed help. So why couldn’t we just set the past aside for one fucking day? Were we really too stubborn for even that?

I felt like shit for reasons that I wasn’t sure I really understood, and to make things worse there was a spaceship running around the city blowing up buildings, and instead of stopping it or warning people, I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself because Zim wouldn’t talk to me, of all things. Yeah. Things might not have been as interesting without Zim around, but they were a lot less complicated.

I decided I had an obligation to at the very least make sure someone was aware of the whole spaceship situation, so I briefly logged onto the Swollen Eyeball Network. But several reports had already been posted, and there wasn’t really anything useful I could add to the conversation, so I took it as permission to continue the day’s trend of ignoring responsibilities.

For a few hours I tried my hand at recounting the spaceship chase for my blog. I’d been keeping a blog of my investigations and paranormal experiences in one form or another since I was a kid, but lately I hadn’t felt like posting much. I briefly hoped that this would be the thing to jog me out of the rut I’d been in, but everything sounded wrong and in the end I deleted the whole thing and gave up on doing anything productive.

I regretted not getting footage of the spaceship when I’d had the chance. That really would have been something worth posting, but the thought had never even crossed my mind. Instead, I’d wasted time running for my life and saving ungrateful aliens, and what did I have to show for it? 

I suspected there had been a time when I would have stood in the middle of a collapsing warehouse to film a spaceship--a time when, in fact, it would have been my first instinct, and that thought just made me feel worse. How long had it been since I’d done any worthwhile investigations? Where had my dreams of blazing a path of innovation through the paranormal field gone? Bogged down by paying bills and buying groceries and keeping a job, all the while telling myself that things would get better at some vague point in the future.

I felt like someone had placed an indefinite hold on my life, and there was some missing component that I had to find before all the gears would start turning again, but I had no idea what it was.

Eventually I got sick of thoughts like that, and spent the rest of the night watching mindless videos until my head was too filled with nothing to think about spaceships or aliens or my shortcomings in life.

 

*  *  *

 

The next morning came and brought with it nothing new. I called my boss to make up some excuse about being sick the day before, then got ready for work. I didn’t feel like facing a whole day of pretending everything was normal and fine, but I hoped at least it would distract me from thinking about Zim or invasions or paranormal anything. I wanted to put it all out of my head and just forget that Zim had ever existed.

I grabbed my things, jogged down the stairwell and into the parking garage--and there he was, propped against my car, Gir curled up beside him.

My first thought was that out of all the places he could have gone, he’d come back here. He could have gone anywhere, disappeared forever and never looked back, but he hadn’t. Maybe all those years we’d been at each other’s throats counted for something after all. And maybe it was a bit messed up that I felt a little lighter inside just at the possibility.

My second thought was that he had a hell of a lot of nerve. I had the vague impression that there was more to that thought than just being miffed about yesterday, but I didn’t care because it felt good to be angry at Zim, and I didn’t want to analyze my feelings or think things through, I just wanted him to know that I was mad.

“What the hell are _you_ doing here?” I did my best to convey that I was not, in fact, okay with him being here again. Even though a part of me couldn’t have been happier.

He jumped at my words. “Dib!”

“Well?” I kept my tone steely.

“I…”

I waited, arms folded, as he struggled for an explanation.

“I didn’t have anywhere else to go.” He looked down at his feet, and some of that pity I’d thought I had under control curled around my stomach. Shit. Why did he have to look so… helpless?

“How about _anywhere_ else?”

He hugged his knees and glowered at the ground. “My base is gone.”

“Yeah, Gir said.” Not that Gir was a reliable source of information, but Zim’s reaction yesterday had made it pretty obvious.

“Look, Zim, I really have to get to work. Can’t you just...call an interstellar Uber, or something?”

Zim scowled up at me. “If I had a way off this _disgusting_ planet, I would already have left.”

That did seem likely.

I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, or even what the hell I was feeling. Why did he have to come back? As if he expected me to be able to do something about all this, as if I’d even want to.

 _Did_ I want to? I couldn’t even answer that one simple question. My head was a mess of thoughts and emotions, and none of them seemed to match up. Part of me just wanted him to go away and take all the garbage this entire encounter had dug up with him. But another part said that I couldn’t just leave him sitting in a parking lot with nowhere to go. With all the reasons I had to hate Zim, and all the times I’d sworn I did, I still couldn’t bring myself to leave him there. I just couldn’t.

The absurdity of the whole thing suddenly hit me, and it all came out in a humorless burst of laughter. The sound was loud and jarring in the quiet of the parking garage. Zim’s expression soured considerably. He probably thought I was laughing at him. Maybe I was. Maybe I was laughing at myself, too.

I shook my head in disbelief at the entire situation: at him, at me, at what I was about to do. “Are you really asking to crash on my couch?”

“No! Zim no longer has a ship _to_ crash, thanks to you!” Zim fumed.

“No, that’s not… nevermind. Just come on.” I gestured for him to follow me. What the hell else was I supposed to do? Act like a normal person and _not_ invite evil aliens into my home, probably.

When Zim didn’t follow, I paused at the door and raised an eyebrow at him. He seemed to realize I was serious, and scrambled to his feet, disturbing Gir, who had been sleeping. Gir squeaked indignantly, but followed Zim and I up the stairwell.

I let them into my apartment. Zim stood in the entryway, arms crossed, looking uncomfortable and unhappy. Gir immediately began to explore, asking questions rapid-fire and squealing unintelligibly. I watched him run in circles around the living room and hoped he wouldn’t break anything.

This was, without a doubt, the worst decision I’d ever made in my entire life. Zim was evil, and dangerous, and not someone you invited into your home and left alone while you skipped off to work. Except, he wasn’t looking that evil or dangerous at the moment. He looked more lost than anything; lost and small and angry and scared. I probably should have hated him enough that I wouldn’t care--and maybe I had, once. That felt like a long time ago though, and the thought of drudging up six-year-old hatred just made me tired. I really didn’t know what I was feeling now, but I knew that I wasn’t going to leave Zim with nowhere to go. The rest I could figure out later.

“Look, Zim, I have to go to work.” I was already late as it was.

He scowled over his shoulder at me. I wasn’t sure what he found so offensive all of a sudden, so I ignored him. “You can stay here for now. Just...try to keep Gir from breaking anything. I’ll be back around five.”

Zim didn’t say anything, and after several awkward moments of silence I decided that aggressively saying nothing to each other was not worth getting even later for.

“Okay. So, see you later, I guess.”

Zim just glowered at me as I left.

Walking back down to the parking garage, all I could think was that it was very likely I would come home to a smoking pile of rubble where my apartment building had been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here goes nothin. This is gonna be the longest fic I’ve ever attempted to write, and the only thing I’ve ever started posting before I had the entire thing finished. The perfectionist in me thinks that’s a terrible idea, especially since I’ve never been very confident in my ability to write prose, but I also really want to share this and spend less time worrying about it being perfect and more time just having a blast writing it. 
> 
> So I’ve had these ZADR feels overflowing for a while now and it got to the point where I just couldn’t keep it contained anymore, and this is the result. There’s so much I want to do with this fic, so many ideas I have about the characters that I want to explore, and I’m so excited to finally be doing it. 
> 
> I’m going to do my best to post a new chapter around the first of every month, and if things go well I'll try to make updates more frequent. We’ll see how it goes. I've never maintained a long fic project before so I'm gonna take it slow and only promise more when I'm confident I can keep up with the schedule. 
> 
> A quick note on Zim's age: So, Irk years really mess everything up, but I’ve done my best to work with them. This fic takes place eleven years after the events of the show. We’re going to assume that Zim is 16 in Irk years when the show starts, but was only a few Earth years away from turning 17. If we arrange things that way, he is 18 by the time this fic starts (Dib is 24). Those are the assumptions I’m making for this fic because I wanted them both to be at least 18.
> 
> So, some notes on this specific chapter:
> 
> You’ll notice that Dib is dealing with some depression in this chapter, and later on we’ll see that Zim has some struggles of his own. I’ve drawn a lot on my own experiences with mental illness for this fic, and it’s an important part of how I view these characters, so expect more of that. It’s been a somewhat validating experience to write about these things, and I hope it’s an interpretation of these characters that others will connect with too. 
> 
> My favorite part of this chapter was the diner scene. It’s really the closest we get at this point to a friendly moment between these two, and I just adore it when they do normal things together. I’m a little impatient to get to the later parts of the story where a real friendship is starting to develop, so it was a bit hard to hold back here. I think it’s important, though, to give them time to work through some things before we dive into a closer relationship. I want to let things develop slowly, but time will tell if I can control myself. ;)
> 
> Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll be back for the next installment!


	2. Omens

Zim

This was bad.

My ship was gone. My only way off this miserable planet, and it was gone. I was trapped, and now I’d stooped so low as to ask _Dib_ for assistance— _twice!_ Things really couldn’t have gone any worse if I’d been _trying._ Six Earth years of laying low and doing everything I could to stay unnoticed, and all my effort was wiped away in a single day.

“I’m gonna miss the Scary Monkey Show!” Gir wailed from the couch. He’d been hysterical since he’d realized Dib didn’t have a television. With all the things crammed inside his small, dirty dwelling, he had to be missing the one thing that could have kept Gir occupied while I tried to think of a plan.

While Gir reached ever higher levels of hysterics, I searched for something else to distract him. I located a bag in Dib’s kitchen that seemed to contain food, and Gir stopped screaming long enough to try the small, crunchy discs. They met with his approval--not a hard thing to do--and he took them behind the couch where I could hear him rolling around and crunching loudly. It was disgusting, but he seemed happier.

With Gir occupied I was free to think, but my head was a mess of what-ifs and half formed plans and I couldn’t _focus_.

I paced. I couldn’t sit still, and every unfamiliar noise sounded like a threat. I knew they were coming for me, and I was only making it easier for them by staying in one place--but there was nowhere else to go! If I ran on foot I’d still be trapped on this planet and they’d find me eventually—or maybe just blow the whole thing up with me on it. At least here I wasn’t exposed and I could take a few hours to think. Except that instead of safe, I just felt trapped. The walls were too close, the sounds too loud, the air stagnant, and I was certain Dib was planning something. Why else would he have let me stay? I hadn’t expected him to. It had been a desperate, foolish thing to do, coming here. I just… I hadn’t known what else to do. Where else could I have gone? Without my base and my ship I had nothing. So like a pathetic fool I’d come back here.

But my pitiful cowardice didn’t explain why Dib had let me say. I hated that I couldn’t parse his motives. Was the lure of finally being rid of me enough to warrant the risk of leaving me alone in his dwelling? Enough to allow me access to his resources?  Dib was a fool but he wasn’t stupid. He must have realized that getting rid of me wouldn’t be enough to save his planet. No, he would be after something else. I’d have to keep my guard up, keep my senses sharp. Dib couldn’t be trusted.

Then why was I here? The question gnawed at the edges of my mind, lingering behind every thought.

It was because Dib was the lesser of two threats, that was all! He was a danger I understood, a risk I knew I could handle, and if I could convince him to grant me access to his labs it would be worth that risk. He wasn’t the only source of what passed for advanced technology amongst humans, but he was the most convenient, the fastest. And now that my ship was gone, I needed those resources more than ever. I had to get off this planet, out of this galaxy, away from the Empire, and if that meant taking assistance from Dib then so be it. Nothing else mattered, and I’d be gone soon anyway so there was no point in thinking about anything but how to get off Earth. I needed a plan.

My thoughts flashed by so quickly I felt they might burn through my skull--contingencies, futures, useless impossibilities. Perhaps I could construct a new ship--yes! I would make Dib take me to his labs and I’d build a new ship. It didn’t even have to be good, just something that would hold together long enough to get me out of the galaxy. Then I could find a better one if I had to and go where they couldn’t find me. I’d leave Irken space, go somewhere no one had ever heard of. I’d disappear.

It was a good plan, but my thoughts still pressed in like a vice. I needed to do _something_. I hated waiting, hated how useless it made me feel, hated how I felt like I’d come apart at the seams if I didn’t have something to focus on. What good was a plan if I couldn’t act on it? Until Dib returned I was stuck here.

The day dragged on. I paced, and thought, and paced, and tried not to think, and my nerves felt frayed and my patience ready to snap and the walls pressed in.

It felt like years before Dib finally returned, but the moment he stepped through the door, I was ready. It was time to get out of this dirt-hole and make some progress.

“Dib!” I shouted in my most commanding voice.

Dib jumped, dropping the bag he was carrying in the doorway.

“What the hell, Zim?” He glared at me as he retrieved the bag from the floor.

“I demand that you--!” My demand was cut off as Gir let out a piercing shriek and rocketed past me. Dib had to fend him off as he jumped at the bag in his arms.

“Tacos!” Gir cried as Dib fought his way to the kitchen where he deposited the bag on the counter.

“Actually…” Dib pulled several white boxes out of the bag, “It’s pad thai.”

He handed one of the boxes to Gir, who immediately tore it open and stuffed half the contents into his mouth. He ran back into the living room, leaving a trail of noodles behind him.

Dib held out a second box to me. “Here. I wasn’t sure what you’d like, but I figured you’d be hungry.”

I eyed Dib and then the box. Was this some kind of trick?

Dib laughed. “I promise, if I decide to kill you Zim, it won’t be with poisoned takeout.”

I wasn’t so certain.

“I don’t require food.” I swatted the carton away. I could survive on the nutrients stored in my PAK for months if need be, and I doubted very much I could eat whatever was in the box anyway, poisoned or not.

Dib rolled his eyes. “Whatever. If you change your mind, it’ll be in the fridge.”

He scrawled my name across the carton before placing it in his refrigerator.

“If you want, we can pick up some groceries. I really don’t know what you like to eat.”

“What I _want_ , Dib, is to go to your labs!” I couldn’t afford these distractions.

Dib tensed. “I see you haven’t gotten any better at listening in the last six years. I told you, that’s not an option.”

Argh! What was wrong with him!? Couldn’t he see that there wasn’t time for games? I might be found at any moment!

“I demand that you give me access!”

Dib turned to face me, arms folded across his chest. “What would you even do there? Your ship is gone.”

I didn’t want to explain my plans to Dib. It would be much simpler if he just did what I told him to and didn’t ask questions. Why couldn’t anything ever be simple?

“I no longer require the voot runner. I have a new plan.” Getting access to his facilities was still my best bet, but I didn’t want to give too much away. The more he knew, the more likely he was to ruin everything.

“Yeah? What?” The words were a challenge, he didn’t believe that I had a plan.

“I’m going to build a new ship! And then I’ll be rid of your filthy planet for good!” I didn’t realize what I was saying until it was too late. Curse Dib! How did he always get me off guard so easily? He was as infuriating as I remembered.

Dib was giving me one of his looks, and I could see the doubt on his face.

“Won’t that take a while? Building a whole new ship?”

“You-!”

Oh, wait… I loathed admitting it, but he had a point. If I’d still had access to my base, I could have constructed a workable ship within a few days, but using Dib’s primitive equipment? It was likely to take much longer. That could be a problem.

I wasn’t about to let Dib know he’d made a good point, though. It would only weaken my position to admit that he’d spotted a flaw in my plan, and then I might never get access to his labs. Even if I couldn’t build a ship, it was still my best chance. I could figure out the details once I got there.

“You only betray your ignorance, Dib. I’m perfectly capable of--.”

“Hey!” Dib snapped, and the sharpness in his voice startled me. “I’m laying down some ground rules right now. First: if you want to stay here, you have to watch it with the insults. I’m doing you a favor, I don’t have to let you stay.”

Had I insulted him? I’d only meant to appear confident in my plan so that he wouldn’t doubt me.

“Second: if you want my help, you need to listen to me. We can’t work together if all you do is ignore my ideas and shout over everything I say.”

Work together? We weren’t working together. This was just a temporary truce based around mutual benefit: I got to leave Earth, and Dib could believe that his planet was safe. That’s what we’d agreed on.

“If you can’t work with that, you can go. I don’t have to put up with your crap.”

Dib glared at me, arms crossed, eyes narrowed, waiting. I needed this: needed to have access to his equipment, needed time to think of a new plan, needed a place to lay low. But I didn’t want whatever this was. This was more complicated than it was supposed to be.

“I never asked for your help!” All I’d ever wanted was access to his labs. I didn’t need his ideas or his generosity or any of it.

Dib looked at me incredulously. “Yes you did. Don’t even try to tell me you don’t remember showing up on my doorstep looking like a drowned puppy.”

“I asked you to let me use your labs! Which,” I pointed out, “you failed to do! I owe you nothing!”

“Fine.” Dib stalked past me and yanked open the door to the hall. “Then you can leave.”

I glanced between Dib and the doorway. Dib stared me down, unwavering.

I felt my hands clench into fists so tight that my nails dug into my palms through my gloves. I wanted to yell and storm out. I wanted to tell him that I didn’t need to stay here, and that I didn’t need his stupid labs. But none of that was true.

 _“Fine.”_ The words escaped my gritted teeth. “I will... _comply_ with your _ground rules.”_

The anger faded from Dib’s face. He looked surprised, but didn’t say anything, just stared at me. What was he waiting for? Hadn’t I agreed to his stupid terms?

A noise came from outside the door—footsteps and voices. Dib glanced at the hallway and quickly shut the door before turning back to me.

“Okay,” he said. “If you mean that, you can stay.”

“And you’ll let me use your labs?”

“ _Zim_!” Dib threw his hands up.

“You said—!”

“I said you could stay! Just, stop it with the _lab_ thing. If you’d shut up for a minute maybe we could figure out what our _actual_ options are.”

It didn’t appear that I really had a choice. I’d have to listen to Dib’s stupid ideas.

“Fine!” I sat down on the couch with such force that something in it cracked. Dib gave me a look that I ignored. “What _options_ do you propose?”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, making it stick out in all directions.

“First, I need to understand what’s going on. That ship—is it coming back? How much time do we have?”

“I didn’t agree to answer your questions.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t have to. But if you don’t, I can’t help, and you’ll be back where you started.”

Curse Dib and his stupid words and his stupid head.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But they’ve already found me twice—so yes, they’ll likely be back.”

“Do you know how they’re tracking you?”

“No.”

“Okay. We should figure that out. That could buy us a lot of time.”

“Don’t you think I’ve already tried!?” I’d gone over my equipment ages ago and removed everything that could have identified me--tracking signatures, manufacturer IDs--I should have been untraceable.

“Back at the warehouse,” Dib went on, taping his chin thoughtfully. “They went after your ship. And after they destroyed it, they seemed to lose track of us. Maybe they were following some kind of signal from the ship? In that case, they wouldn’t be able to find you now.”

That was possible, but...I’d checked _everything!_ I was certain of it. “I’ve been over my ship. I’ve been over all of my equipment. There’s nothing left to track.”

Dib gave me an odd look.

“What?”

“Were you… expecting someone to be looking for you?”

Curses! Why did he have to read into everything? This was why I hadn’t wanted to explain my plan: he had a way of weaseling his way to the truth, no matter how careful I was. And it was very important that he not learn the truth.

“It should come as no surprise to _you_ that I have enemies,” I snapped. “I have to be careful.”

He couldn’t know the truth. If he found out, who knew what he might do. Turn me in, probably. Put me in a cage and broadcast my location to the entire galaxy. He wanted me gone, didn’t he? So why bother with the trouble of acquiring a ship, when he could just let someone take me off his hands?

“Will you tell me who they are? Or at least why they want you dead?”

“That’s none of your business, _Dib._ ”

“Don’t you think it kind of is, at this point?”

Only because he was _making_ it his business, the nosey human. I didn’t answer, I wasn’t going to play his games, he’d just try to trick me into revealing something.

Dib sighed and shook his head. “Nevermind.”

He grabbed one of the food boxes from the kitchen and sat down next to me on the couch. I tensed, ready for… for something. But he didn’t even look at me, just opened the box and poked at the contents with a fork.

“Do you have anything else with you that they might be able to track? We should probably double check everything.”

All I had with me were Gir and the contents of my PAK. “I suppose they might be tracking Gir somehow.”

We both looked at Gir, who was trying to fit his head into his empty food box. Sauce dribbled down the sides of his face.

“Hmm,” Dib mused. “Maybe instead of trying to pinpoint exactly where the signal’s coming from, we can find a way to mask it. Like some kind of dampening field. It might save us some time.”

“Of course!” I jumped off the couch, excitement coursing through me like electricity. “How did I not think of it before?”

“It shouldn’t be too hard,” Dib said, setting his food down. “I bet I have most of what we’d need here.”

He moved to his workbench and began pulling things out--tools, scraps, devices that looked like they’d already been stripped for parts. He frowned as he surveyed the small pile.

“Damn, I took a lot of my good stuff to the warehouse. But, I know where we can get some more. You up for a drive?”

I was _up for_ anything that would get me closer to leaving Earth. “Where?”

“There’s a junkyard I get a lot of my stuff from. The guy who runs the place let’s me take pretty much whatever I want. We should be able to get some good stuff there. I might need to call in a few favors for anything we can’t salvage, though.”

“Then let us visit this ‘ _junkyard.’”_

Dib gave me a thoughtful look. “Do you have any extra clothes?”

“Eh?” What did clothing have to do with anything?

“I thought you might want to clean up a bit, before we go. I mean, you kinda look like you’ve been through a wood chipper.”

I looked down at myself. My uniform _was_ in terrible shape--torn and scorched and covered in dirt. But I didn’t have anything to replace it with.

“This will do,” I said, because it would simply have to for now.

Dib snorted. “Come on, you can borrow something of mine.”

He waved for me to follow him and disappeared into his sleeping quarters. I wasn’t sure what he was up to, but I followed, exercising caution as I entered the room.

“Most of my stuff is probably way too big for you,” Dib said, holding up a shirt. “We might need to buy something.”

He rummaged through several drawers and the closet, failing to locate what he was looking for.

“Oh, wait, this might work.” He pulled out a garment I believed was called a _sweater._ “This is kinda old. It’s too small for me, so it’ll probably fit you better than most of my stuff would.”

He tossed the _sweater_ to me. I caught it and held it at arm’s length. A cartoonish caricature stared back at me--a green head with large eyes.

“This is...Zim?” Poorly rendered as it was, the image bore a certain resemblance.

“No, what?” Dib laughed nervously. “Why would I have a shirt with your face on it? It’s just, you know, an alien.” He shrugged. “Go on, see if it fits.”

I pulled the thing over my head. It smelled like human and old things, and it was too big. I also didn’t like how it restricted access to my PAK.

Dib appraised the garment. “Yeah, that’ll work okay for now. But we’ll have to get you something else soon.”

About that, at least, we were in agreement. I would wear the _sweater_ for our salvage mission, but only because I had nothing better and my garments really were in a terrible condition. Also the sweater was warm.

“Can we go now?”

Dib hesitated. What was it _now!?_

“You can take a few minutes to get cleaned up, if you want. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like you’ve been living in a dumpster. Kinda smell like it too.”

“Zim is not smelly!” Actually, I probably was. I’d been on the move for two days without a chance to regroup, but I was tired of these delays.

“Beg to differ,” Dib said in a hoarse voice as he feigned choking.

“Why must you delay _everything?”_

“Look, if we’re going to sit in the same car, you’re going to have to stop smelling like a dead fish. That’s the new deal.” Dib’s tone was serious, but a smirk twitched at the corners of his mouth. Was he... _joking_ with me?

 _“Very well.”_ I stalked out of the room and located Dib’s bathroom. I made certain to slam the door so there would be no question that I found nothing amusing about his _jokes._

Dib had no irken cleansing oils, but I made do with a towel and a bottle of something that didn’t smell entirely repulsive.

It did feel better to be clean. I discarded my damaged tunic and replaced it with Dib’s sweater, after making a few adjustments so my PAK could fit over it, rather than under. It wasn’t ideal, but it was at the very least clean and not torn.

As I was finishing up, a phone rang somewhere in the apartment and I heard Dib’s muffled voice answer. Through the door the conversation was too quiet to make out more than a few stray words, but something in Dib’s tone caught my attention. He sounded defensive and on edge, though I couldn’t make out specifics. It was probably innocuous, but I hadn’t been able to shake the feeling since I’d arrived that Dib was up to something. Perhaps this was my chance to find out what.

Careful not to make a sound, I cracked the door open just enough that Dib’s words became clear, and leaned in.

“I did see it, but I don’t know what it is.”

He paused, listening. I tried to pick up the other half of the conversation, but it was too faint.

“I…might have a lead. But I need more time before I can give you anything.”

Another pause.

“Of course I am. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt either.”

I pressed closer to the open door as if that would somehow reveal the words on the other side of the phone.

“I know. I’ll keep you posted.”

He ended the call.

An innocent enough conversation. Not enough to draw any conclusions from, certainly. Nothing to suggest he was talking about anything to do with me. But I couldn’t risk believing that. I had to operate under the assumption that Dib couldn’t be trusted, because if things went bad I no longer had a base to retreat to or a ship to escape on.

“Who was that?” I pushed the bathroom door open, enjoying the way Dib jumped and spun to face me, panic all over his face. I didn’t have to let him know that I suspected anything, but it wouldn’t hurt to keep him nervous.

“Oh, uh…” He looked at his phone, clearly searching for an excuse. “Just an old friend. Nothing important. Just touching base.”

He was lying. Good. That was a game I understood. That was what I expected from Dib, not food and conversations on his couch and sweaters. I felt like I was on firm footing again for the first time since I’d stepped through his door.

“So, you ready?” He asked. He smiled, but his voice was nervous.

“I’ve been ready since you got here.” No need to let him know I suspected anything just yet. Better if he thought he had the upper hand for now, it would make him careless.

I turned to Gir, who had commandeered the couch and was laying with his feet in the air and his head lolling over the side.

“Gir, remain here and don’t cause any trouble. I’ll be back shortly.”

“Yes, master!” Gir gave me an upside-down salute.

“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea to leave him here alone.” Dib watched Gir skeptically as he grabbed a backpack from a hanger by the door.

“He’ll be fine.” Gir was capable of taking care of himself.

“I’m more worried about my _apartment_ still being fine when we get back.”

Ah, Dib was concerned that Gir would damage his dwelling. “Gir, don’t touch anything until I return.”

“Okaaaaaaaayyyyyyy!” Gir drew out the word and kicked his legs. There. That would do the trick.

“Um, maybe we should take him with us.”

“Ugh, _fine. Gir_ , come!”

Gir jumped off the couch and ran to my side.

“Satisfied? May we _leave?”_ At this rate we would never get this anti-tracking thing built.

Dib rolled his eyes--a human mannerism I had come to learn indicated disdain--and opened the door.

*  *  *

Dib

 

It was weird, just sitting in a car with Zim. I’d spent a lot of time _around_ Zim over the years, but this felt oddly like spending time _with_ Zim, and it was all kinds of surreal. I felt like I should have been shouting about something or trying to thwart an insidious plot. But there was nothing to yell about, and nothing to thwart. We were just driving.

“This _junkyard,”_ Zim said, “what kinds of resources does it have?”

“Kinda depends.” I changed lanes as our exit approached. “I found some military grade stuff there once—no idea what it was doing there.”

Zim looked intrigued.

“Mostly it’s just old toaster ovens and stuff, though,” I admitted. “But you’d be surprised what you can repurpose a toaster oven into if you get creative.”

Zim huffed and looked out the window. “I suppose I’ve had to make do with worse.”

We lapsed into silence, so I turned on the radio and tried to focus on the terrible hits of decades past instead of the alien sitting next to me. There was an insistent voice in my head telling me that whatever this thing with Zim was, I should put a stop to it now. The voice was right. I knew it was. The problem was that I didn’t want to listen to it, and I didn’t know why.

We passed the sign for Alvin’s Recycling Services, and pulled into the driveway a few moments later. I parked by the office--a small metal shack that stood on wooden stilts.

“Wait here,” I told Zim. I’d just check in with the owner, Alvin, and then we could get started.

I trotted up the rickety wooden steps and knocked on the office door.

“What?” A brusque voice called out.

“Hey, it’s Dib,” I called through the door.

There was some shuffling before the door swung open and Alvin peered out, scowling.

“Whaddya want?” He grumbled.

“Just here to pick up a few things,” I explained.

“That so?” He eyed me with feigned irritation. That was just Alvin. He wanted people to think he was a grumpy old hermit who hated everyone, but under it all he was one of the most decent people I knew.

Alvin peered past me. “Who’s yer friend?”

I followed his gaze to my car, where Zim was glaring at us from the passenger seat.

“Oh, uh… just a friend.”

Alvin twitched an eyebrow skeptically. Yeah, that hadn’t been my best attempt at evasion.

“We’re working on a project together,” I explained, hoping Alvin wouldn’t push the issue. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Alvin, but until I knew just what Zim had gotten me involved in, I felt it was best to keep my cards close to my chest, for everyone’s sake. Plus he probably wouldn’t believe me if I told him Zim was an alien and I was trying to help him return to his planet. That sort of thing tended to go over badly.

“Yeah? What kinda project?”

Damnit. I didn’t want to be rude to Alvin, but I didn’t have time to make up a story about what Zim and I were doing.

“Just, you know, stuff.”

“Yer bad at lyin’, boy,” Alvin chuckled. I ducked my head. It hadn’t been so much a lie as a failure to provide details, but it was still embarrassing to be called out on it.

“Uh… Sorry, Alvin. I’m just in a hurry. This is kind of important.”

“Sorry, kid. I’m closin down for the night. Come back tomorrow.” Alvin started to close the door, but paused. He squinted out at me through the narrow opening.

“Take my advice, kid? Get yerself and yer friend far away from this city. Ya don’t need the kinda trouble that’s comin here.”

What the hell did that mean? Before I could ask, Alvin had shut the door, and I heard the distinct sound of a lock sliding into place.

I pounded on the door. “Alvin! Hey! What do you mean? What’s coming?”

No answer.

I pounded again. What the hell was going on? Did Alvin know something? Could it be related to whatever was going on with Zim?

“What’s going on?” Zim had gotten out of the car and was watching me pound on Alvin’s door with mild curiosity.

“I wish I knew. Alvin! Come on! At least let me look around!”

“The Alvin has denied us access?” Zim asked grimly.

“Looks that way.” I glared at the door. This wasn’t like Alvin at all. Something was wrong.

“Is the junkyard fortified?” Zim glanced around as if checking for defenses.

“No, Zim. I know what you’re thinking, and _no._ We can’t just barge in and help ourselves. We’ll just have to figure something else out.”

“There’s no time for that!” Zim stalked over to the bottom of the stairs. _“_ You said we could get what we needed here!”

“Look, I’ll think of something!” There _were_ other options. I probably couldn’t buy everything, but I knew people who would probably lend me what we needed. It was just that I hadn't seen most of them since college, and it would be weird to show up asking for things. I didn’t really want to deal with the inevitable questions either. They’d all want to know what I’d been up to, and all I’d have to tell them about would be a mediocre job and a million failed attempts at fixing my life. Not to mention they’d probably want a better explanation of why I needed this stuff than ‘my friend and I are doing a project!’

Zim looked agitated again, like he had the first night he’d shown up. He paced back and forth between the stairs and the car, caught up in his own thoughts.

Maybe he was right. If that ship was still tracking him, we probably didn’t have much time. And when it found him, I’d be right in the line of fire too, so maybe it wouldn’t hurt to take just a few things. Alvin never needed to know, and certainly if he’d understood the circumstances he wouldn’t have objected. Too bad I couldn’t explain it to him.

“Okay, you’re right.” I knew it was childish, but it stung a little to say those words.

Zim’s attention snapped to me.

“Just, we need to be quiet about this, okay?” Speaking of which, I realized we probably shouldn’t have this conversation right outside of Avlin’s office. I joined Zim by the car.

“Quiet is good!” Zim said loudly.

“Shhh! Look, there’s a back entrance. We can drive around and go in that way. We’ll have to be quick though, I don’t want Alvin to know about this.”

Zim nodded excitedly and hopped back into the car.

The back entrance was technically locked, but I happened to know about a loose bit of fence that a person could easily slip through. Which I had only used _once_ , and that was back before I’d known Alvin, and there had been circumstances.

We left the car on the small dirt driveway by the back gate, hidden behind a small patch of trees just in case. The sun was getting low, and in the evening light the mountains of scrap created eerie silhouettes against the sky, like we were surrounded by an army of giant monsters. We wound in and out between them, with Gir running ahead to explore. He’d double back every now and then to babble excitedly, before running off again.

Alvin accepted all kinds of stuff--cars, appliances, electronics--and he kept it all meticulously organized. It was usually pretty easy to find what I was looking for, and Alvin always let me take what I needed. Sometimes he even set aside items he thought might interest me.

He’d never turned me away before, not in all the years I’d known him. I wondered why tonight had been different, and what he’d been trying to warn me about. Maybe it was just the crazy rantings of an old man, but I’d known Alvin for years, and I’d never seen anything to suggest that he was losing his grip on reality. Maybe I could visit again tomorrow, try to get some more answers out of him.

It wasn’t long before we found what we were looking for: a rusty gate that led to a small enclosure where Alvin kept the more hi-tech electronics.

“Here we are,” I announced, with a slight flourish. It didn’t look like much, but a resourceful person could make pretty much anything out of this stuff, it was just a matter of the right sort of thinking.

Zim looked unimpressed as he eyed the smorgasbord of scrap before us, but he didn’t object as we dug through the mounds of computers, cameras, and other devices. We tossed what looked useful into a keep pile, and soon it looked like we might have enough to work with.

The sun had set by the time we loaded our finds into my backpack and started the trek back out. I hadn’t thought to bring a flashlight, so we had to make do with the light from my phone, which would have been fine if everything hadn’t looked so inexplicably different in the dark. I tried to retrace our steps, but after passing the same broken stop sign twice, I was forced to admit I had no idea where we were.

“You don’t know where we’re going, do you?” Zim’s eyes glinted in the phone light.

“I’ll figure it out. This place isn’t _that_ big.” I’d navigated it a thousand times, how hard could it be? I just needed to get my bearings, find something familiar.

“I’ll get us out of here. Gir!” The sound of distant crashing followed his call, but Gir didn’t appear. Zim waited, one foot tapping out his irritation.

“Where _is_ he?” He grumbled under his breath.

“I’m sure he’ll find us. Come on, let’s try this way. I think I remember seeing that car before.” I doubted very much that waiting around for Gir would in any way expedite things.

Zim followed, but he kept glancing over his shoulder, probably looking for Gir. For someone whose job was conquering inhabited planets, he had a surprisingly soft spot for that robot.

The trail took an unexpected turn, and we found ourselves once again headed in the wrong direction.

“Oh come on, this is getting ridiculous.” I angled the phone’s light up, examining the walls of junk contained behind rusty chain link fences. Nothing stood out as familiar.

“I guess we should—damnit!” The light on my phone went out, plunging us into darkness. “You’re kidding me! The battery was at seventy percent!”

“Don’t be such a baby, it isn’t that dark.”

It was actually _very_ dark. The junkyard was outside of town, and although a number of light posts were scattered throughout the grounds, none of them were currently on.

“This is just great.” I mashed the phone’s power button even though I knew it wouldn’t do any good.

“Come on.” Zim grabbed my sleeve like I was a child he was fed up with and stalked down the path, pulling me behind him.

“Hey!” I yanked out of his grasp. “This isn’t the right way, you’re gonna get us even more lost!”

He spun around, saying something about this being all my fault, but I wasn’t listening. There was something further down the path that I hadn’t noticed before: A light--more of a faint glow, really, but it stood out like a beacon in the darkness.

“Do you see that?” I pointed to the light and Zim turned to look.

“The exit!” He took off toward the glow before I could point out that we weren’t anywhere near the exit.

“Hey, wait up!” I moved as fast as I could, but it was too dark to see my footing and I tripped more than once on the uneven path. Despite the darkness and Zim being significantly shorter than me, he easily outpaced me and quickly disappeared around a corner, his small frame silhouetted in the faint light.

I rounded the corner a few moments later and ran straight into Zim’s back, my ribs smashing painfully against his PAK.

“Ow!”

“Watch it, human!”

“Maybe don’t stand in the middle of the path!”

“Maybe you should--!”

“Hey, what _is_ that?”

Something large was blocking the path ahead of us. At first I’d thought it was a strangely shaped building, but that wasn’t quite right… my eyes followed the outline of it, comprehension dawning. It was a ship. There was a fucking _spaceship_ in the middle of the path.

“What the…”

“It’s a ship,” Zim said.

“Yeah,” I breathed. But what was a spaceship doing in the middle of Alvin’s junkyard?

Scrap lay scattered all around it, spilling from long tears in the fences to either side, and there was a deep trench in the ground behind it that stretched into the darkness and out of sight like the whole scene had fallen right out of a cheesy sci-fi movie.

The ship itself was in poor shape: dented and scorched and broken. The glow we’d seen was coming from somewhere within the wreckage, beyond twisted beams and melted platting.

“What the hell is even going on?” I ran a hand through my hair. “How many aliens _are there_ flying around this city?”

It wasn’t unusual to hear about a sighting now and then, but this was the second alien craft I’d run across in as many nights. It wasn’t normal to stumble onto a spaceship every time you left your house. Something very strange was going on, and I had a feeling it all came back to whatever Zim was hiding from me.

“Your planet isn’t _that_ important Dib,” Zim said offhandedly, extending some kind of device from his PAK. “I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.” He grinned. “A very fortunate coincidence.”

“Oh yeah? If Earth is so insignificant then why did you spend so many years trying to conquer it?”

Zim frowned, tapping the controls of the device from his PAK. “I told you, the Empire doesn’t care about Earth anymore.”

Yeah, he had said that, hadn’t he? It didn’t quite make sense though. Why send Zim in the first place, let alone leave him here so long, only to give up now?

“No life signs.” The device retracted from Zim’s hands and he turned to me, grinning. “Let’s check it out.”

That was tempting, but...

I glanced over my shoulder, half expecting to see Alvin standing behind me. Every minute we spent here was another minute we could be discovered trespassing, and I didn’t want Alvin to know we’d been in here. Not to mention—wait a minute, what the hell was I even _thinking?_ There was a crashed spaceship in front of me! This was the opportunity of a lifetime, and I was worried about being caught _trespassing?_ There really was something wrong with me if I was going to let that get in the way of exploring a fucking _spaceship._

 _“Fuck_ yeah!” The words came out much louder than I’d intended, but I didn’t care if Alvin or anyone heard, I was going to explore this damned spaceship if it was the last thing I ever did.

“Let’s see what’s in there!” I broke into a sprint, leaving Zim in the dust and feeling more exhilarated than I had in… fuck, I didn’t even know how long.

 _“No!”_ Zim shouted behind me. “It’s my find! I get to go first!”

He caught up quickly, jumping in front of me and making a dash for the ship.

“Not a chance!” I cut him off, jamming my shoulder painfully against an opening in the hull but effectively wedging myself into the ship before Zim.

“Cheating human!” He spat, but the malice in his voice sounded put on, and I caught a grin on his face as he crawled in after me. Yes, _this_ was how it was supposed to be, wasn’t it? Me and Zim, enemies to the end. Always a new competition, always a challenge to overcome. I’d missed this.

“Victory!” I shouted, stumbling backward a bit and almost tripping over a fallen beam as I thrust my arms into the air.

“Fool!” Zim hissed, “I _wanted_ you to go first! Now I know the ship is safe for _Zim!”_

“Yeah right! You’re such a sore loser!”

“Zim never loses!”

I stuck my tongue out and ducked backward under another beam, dancing out of his reach. “Whatcha gonna do about it?”

Zim grinned evilly. “Don’t tempt me, human. I’m more than capable of making you regret your insolence.”

“Blah blah blah, all I hear is a lotta talk.” I made a talking mouth with my hand.

Zim lunged for me just as I dodged to the side, but I didn’t see the hole in the floor where I’d meant to land and I slipped on the edge of it, sending myself crashing into a console of buttons and dials. Zim laughed.

“Victory for Zim!”

I laughed too, sliding off the console and down to the floor.

“Yeah, victory for Zim,” I admitted, rubbing my back where a particularly sharp dial had dug in.

Zim’s laughter died off, leaving a heavy silence around us, and in the quiet I suddenly felt a little awkward. There was something a little weird about all this, wasn’t there? I mean, the last time I’d seen Zim he’d been trying to enslave my world, and here I was making stupid jokes with him.

I coughed and looked away, casting around for a distraction.

“Uh, so, this place is in terrible shape.”

“Yeah.” Was it me, or did Zim’s voice sound a little too loud and a little too casual?

“Someone’s terrible at terrestrial landings.”

I snorted. “No shit.”

I hadn’t really taken in the interior of the ship until then, and it was a mess. Huge sections of the ceiling had collapsed, leaving fallen beams and hanging wires everywhere. Debris lay scattered over cracked display screens, panels of buttons, and large consoles like the one I was sitting against. But despite all the knobs and screens and strange equipment, the overall effect was a little underwhelming. Not that I’d been on a lot of spaceships, but I’d somehow expected something sleeker and more, well, alien. This wouldn’t have been out of place on a submarine: everything was painted the same dismal shade of grey and the whole thing felt like a monument to pure functionality.

Zim pushed a bundle of hanging wires out of the way of a nearby console and pressed a button. The cracked screen above it flickered to life.

“Hey, look at this!” Zim waved me over. “The computers are still operational.”

I pushed myself up, careful to avoid the hole that had done me in, and peered over his shoulder as alien text scrolled across the display.

“What does it say?” I could tell it wasn’t the Irken language, but aside from that it was meaningless to me.

Zim didn’t answer. He pressed more buttons and a diagram of the ship appeared.  Large sections of it flashed red, and I guessed it was some kind of damage report.

“I don’t suppose there’s any way you could get this thing spaceworthy again.” That would have solved a lot of problems.

“No,” Zim said, pulling up more diagrams. “But, there could still be something worth salvaging.”

“Does it say who it belonged to? Oh, wait!” I grabbed Zim’s shoulder as a thought struck me. “Are there _mission logs?”_

Zim eyed me disparagingly. “Who cares?”

“Oh come on! Alien mission logs! How cool would that be? It’s like something out of Star Trek!”

Zim gave me a disgusted sort of look, but he pressed a few buttons and a moment later a video appeared on the screen.

“Wait, wait, wait!” I fumbled for my phone before remembering that it was dead. Damnit, I would have liked to record this.

On the screen static gave way to the image of an alien with dark blue skin. They started speaking.

“What are they saying?”

Zim looked bored. “Something about making sure the transmitter is working. They were probably just testing the equipment.”

The alien turned as if talking to someone out of frame, and then a second figure appeared. A figure with green skin and red eyes.

“That’s an irken! Is this an irken ship?”

Zim didn’t answer. He suddenly seemed very interested in the recording.

“Zim?”

The irken in the video began to speak, and although my knowledge of Irken was rough, I got the general impression that he was trying to tell someone that his crew was in danger.

Suddenly Zim slammed his hand down on the console and the screen went black.

“Hey, it wasn’t finished.”

“We have to go!” Zim grabbed the front of my shirt and dragged me toward the exit, almost smashing my head against several beams.

“What’s going on? What was that irken saying?”

“Listen to me!” Zim shouted, pulling me out of the ship. “The people who crashed in this ship, we don’t want anything to do with them! If the Tallest knew I’d been here, they’d—!” Zim clamped a hand over his own mouth.

“What? What would they do?”

“Nevermind! Let’s just get out of this horrible junk place!”

“How would anyone even know we were here?”

“It doesn’t matter!” Zim let go of my shirt and ran to the edge of the path. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted for Gir.

“Can’t you call him with your PAK? I’ve seen you do it.”

“Transmissions are too easy to track,” Zim said. He cocked his head to listen for Gir.

“Gir! I have tacos!”

I thought I heard something in the distance.

“Gir?” I joined in. I wasn’t sure Gir would come to my voice, but I knew we weren’t leaving until we found him.

Zim let out a frustrated cry and kicked a rock into the darkness. “Where _is_ he? We’ll have to go find him.”

“Wait, I hear something.”

We both listened.

“Are those...voices?” I whispered. Someone was out there with us. Had Alvin heard us and come to investigate? My earlier bravery faded a little as I thought about being caught with a backpack full of scrap I hadn’t really been invited to take.

Zim’s eyes narrowed. “ _Humans,”_ he hissed.

“We have to go. I’m not getting caught out here.” I kept my voice low, even though whoever was out there would certainly have already heard us calling for Gir.

“We’re not leaving without Gir!”

“Keep it down!”

“Gir!” Zim shouted. Damnit, he was going to get us caught. I grabbed for him, not sure what I was going to do, just wanting  to keep him quiet, but he dodged and slipped away through a damaged fence. I heard him call for Gir again from somewhere out of sight.

“Who’s there?” A voice called back. It definitely wasn’t Gir, and It didn’t sound like Alvin, but whoever it was, they were close by. I ducked behind a rusty car just as a set of heavy footsteps rounded the path.

“Did you hear something?” The voice asked.

“Yeah,” a second voice replied.

“Check the ship. Make sure it’s secure.”

“Right.”

“You’re trespassing on private property!” the first voice shouted. “Leave, or we’ll call the police!”

Great. Just great.

“Noooo!” Came a loud wail. “I’m sorry!”

Was that...Gir?

There were shouts of surprise and footsteps, and then a small green body bolted past me, letting out ridiculously exaggerated sobs. There wasn’t time to weigh my options. Throwing caution to the wind, I sprang from my hiding spot and grabbed Gir before he could disappear. Shouts rang out behind me and I knew I’d been seen, but I kept running, following the general direction I’d last heard Zim from as I tried to keep the small squirming robot in my arms from escaping.

I didn’t have to run far before I found him.

“Here!” I tossed a flailing Gir into his arms. “Now let’s get out of here!”

“Gir! Take us to the car!” Zim ordered. Gir saluted and took off, leaving us to scramble after him in the dark.

Somehow we made it to the exit without tripping and killing ourselves, and without being caught. The car was where we’d left it, and we threw ourselves inside.

“You can’t run off like that, Gir!” Zim leaned over the back of his seat as I pulled onto the road. In the rearview mirror I saw Gir crawl up into the back window.

“Look what I found!” He held up a rusty piece of metal.

“Gir, that’s filthy! Put it down!”

“I found these too!” He proudly displayed an array of broken trinkets and rusty nails.

Zim seemed to give up on getting through to him and slid back down in his seat.

“Why do I always end up in trouble when you two are around?” I wanted to be irritated. This was the second time in two days I’d found myself running away from a situation I’d never have been in if it wasn’t for Zim. The fact that this was the most excitement I’d had in months only made it worse. I didn’t need Zim around to make my life interesting.

“It was _your_ idea to come here, Dib.” Zim shot back defensively.

“And it was your robot that got us caught,” I pointed out.

“You’re the one who insisted we bring him!”

“It’s not my fault you can’t control him.”

“That’s—“

“Aw, don’t fight.” Gir flopped between the two front seats and looked at us with the biggest pout I’d ever seen. It was ridiculous and somehow really hard to say no to.

“Okay,” I sighed. “Sorry.” Wait, had I just apologized to Zim? No, I was apologizing to Gir--no, wait, that wasn’t better! I was just--

“I wanna drive!” suddenly my view of the road was replaced by flailing arms and glowing blue eyes as Gir jumped over my shoulder and grabbed the steering wheel. The car swerved and I barely managed to keep us on the road.

“Ah! Get off!”

“Gir!” Zim pulled Gir off and I brought us back into our own lane. Luckily we were on a rarely used backroad and there were no other cars around to have a grisly head-on collision with.

“This is what I’m talking about! He needs training or something!”

“Gir, stay in the back!” Zim shouted as Gir crawled over the back of the passenger seat. He didn’t look particularly chastised.

“Okay, he’s not allowed in the car anymore.” If I was going to die in a car accident it was going to be running from spaceships, not crashing into a tree courtesy of Gir.

Zim made a noncommittal noise and stared placidly out the window, drumming his fingers absently against the door like we hadn’t just almost died. All signs of his earlier panic over the mysterious recording were gone.

“Zim, that message on the ship: what was it about?”

“Why do _you_ care?” I he glanced at me suspiciously.

“Oh, I don’t know: maybe because you completely freaked out over it. Does this have something to do with the people who are after you?”

Zim bolted up in his seat. “I have nothing to do with those traitors! I would _never_ betray the Empire!”

Whoa, it looked like I had touched a nerve. “I didn’t say you would.”

“Never compare me to them!”

“Okay, I won’t, jeez. What’s so bad about them anyway?”

“They’re filthy traitors. They betrayed the Empire—betrayed the Tallest. They all deserve to be executed. If I could, I’d call the Tallest right now and tell them where the miserable creatures have fled to.”

“That seems a little harsh.”

“You couldn’t possibly understand. You know nothing of loyalty, nothing of what it is to be irken. They’ve turned their backs on everything the Empire stands for.”

I rolled my eyes. “I like them already.”

“This isn’t a joke, Dib! Do you know what would happen if the Tallest thought I had anything to do with them?”

“No, you wouldn’t tell me.”

Zim made a frustrated noise and flopped back in his seat. “It wouldn’t be good.”

“All we did was look at a crashed ship. Is that really enough to get you in trouble?”

Zim didn’t seem to hear me. I glanced sidelong at him, keeping one eye on the road. He was biting the tip of one gloved finger and staring intently at nothing.

“What is it?”

His eyes flicked to mine. “Just a thought…”

“About…?”

“Maybe I _should_ tell the Tallest.”

“Look, I don’t really know what this is all about, but don’t you think you have enough to worry about right now?” Just getting home in one piece was proving to be enough of a challenge at this point.

“Nevermind. It doesn’t concern you anyway.”

Zim didn’t offer any more conversation after that. He seemed caught up in his own thoughts, and I was too eager to not be in a moving vehicle with two passengers who had no sense of self preservation to care about prying.

We made it back to the relative safety of my apartment alive and spread our junkyard finds out on the workbench. While Zim took things apart, I started drawing up ideas for the dampener. Finding the crashed ship at Alvin’s had given me a renewed sense of urgency. No matter what Zim said, it was clear that something strange was going on and I’d feel a lot better knowing we at least wouldn’t be getting any surprise visits from death-ray shooting aliens.

“So, we’ll want to cover as many signal types as we can. Since we don’t know what they could be tracking, we need to be as broad as possible.” I scribbled out a few equations in my notebook.

Zim had ideas too, and he shared them. Loudly.

Zim wasn’t exactly easy to work with, but we found a kind of rhythm between us, probably helped by the handful of times we’d been forced to combine our efforts in the past. Even when we disagreed, our shared goal kept us on track. Zim didn’t like to compromise, and he didn’t like to admit when he was wrong or when I had a better idea--and if I was being honest, I didn’t have much patience for it—but I found that if I could demonstrate my point in a concrete way, he would eventually accept it. And despite a tendency to overlook details and charge ahead blindly, I found a lot of his ideas were actually worth listening to. Most of the time.

Between all the arguing and re-drawing of designs and equations, and a ten minute stretch where I’d been forced to leave my own apartment to stop myself from strangling Zim, we actually managed to make something functional.

It was small--about the size of a large grape--and looked kind of like a metal beetle. I had to admit, it was a cool design. I hadn’t really been worried about how it would look, I just wanted it to work, but Zim had insisted it look good, so I’d caved and let him design the case while I scrounged up every kind of scanner I had so we could test it.

The hard part was getting Gir to hold still while wearing the dampener so we could test if any signals could get through the field. In the end I had to sacrifice a pint of ice cream to keep him in one spot long enough. He hummed contentedly as he ate it, while Zim and I systematically scanned for every kind of signal I had equipment for.

“That’s everything.” I set the last scanner down. “As far as my equipment is concerned, Gir isn’t here. If he’s sending out a secret homing signal, it’s either being blocked or it’s not something I know how to detect.”

“Brilliant!” Zim declared gleefully.

“Guess this means we don’t have to worry about being blown up for a while.”

“Yes,” Zim grinned like a villain in a cartoon. “Now I can focus on acquiring a new ship.”

He began pacing again, muttering to himself about ships and plans. I felt tired just watching him. Where did he get the energy? With all the running and fighting I felt ready to sleep for a decade.

“Think I’m gonna get some sleep.”

Zim shot me a look that was something between disgust and disappointment. “There is no time for sleep, human.”

“That was the whole point of the dampener,” I said through a yawn. “To give us time.”

Zim glowered at the dampener which was still attached to Gir. “Fine, fine. Have your _sleep.”_

“You good with the couch? I think I have an extra blanket around here somewhere, if you want.”

Zim eyed me irritably. “Irkens do not require _sleep._ I will work on modifying the dampener to function over a larger area while you indulge in your primitive rituals. If I can properly scale the field output, it should be able to conceal a small ship from scanners.”

I wondered if irkens really didn’t sleep, or if Zim was just posturing. How would that work, anyway? Perhaps a feat of genetic engineering? Or did the PAK compensate for it somehow? Maybe—

My ringtone suddenly blared from the table where I’d set my phone to charge, making us both jump. I fumbled for the phone, turning it over to check the caller ID as I held down the volume control, although I suspected I already knew who was calling. And I was right. Shit.

I couldn’t talk to the Swollen Eyeball in front of Zim. I was already fairly certain he’d overheard me when they’d called earlier, and I really wasn’t looking to give him another reason to distrust me. Then he’d just disappear again and… and then he might never leave Earth. Yeah, and I wanted Zim to leave. I was trying to save Earth by getting Zim to leave. That’s what we were doing. And however well intentioned the Eyeball was, they could really complicate things if they knew what I was trying to do.

I sent the call to voicemail. Maybe they’d just think I’d lost interest. It wasn’t like I’d been a very active member over the last few years.

The phone rang again. Apparently they couldn’t take a hint.

“Sorry, guess I have to take this.”

Did Zim look suspicious, or was I just reading into things?

I took the call in the hallway, several doors down so Zim wouldn’t hear. Probably not the most inconspicuous move, but my other option was standing right in front of him.

“What?” I snapped into the speaker.

“Agent Mothman?” A heavily disguised voice rasped from the other end.

“Yeah. What do you want?”

“Agent Mothman, I was asked to contact you. I have crucial information that might save your life.”

That got my attention.

“What information?”

“I assume you know about the alien vessel spotted over the city two nights ago?”

“Yeah. I’ve already told you guys all I know about it.”

“Time is short, so I’ll be brief: since the ship appeared we’ve been picking up some anomalous signals that we believe are originating from the vessel. We think the vessel has been scanning for something, but we weren’t certain what until a few minutes ago when the pattern changed. Agent Mothman, the signals are all converging on _your_ location.”

“Oh shit.”

“‘Oh shit’ indeed.”

The dampener, it hadn’t worked. The ship was coming.

“Hey, how do you guys even know where I am?”

“The Eyeball takes care of its own, Agent Mothman.”

“Okay. That’s not at all creepy.”

“I’m sorry, I know you have questions, but we don’t have much time. We haven’t been able to get a visual on the vessel--it may be cloaked somehow--but we’re certain the signals indicate that something is approaching your location. I’m sending you coordinates to a safe house nearby. An agent will meet you there and explain more. Good luck, Agent Mothman.”

The phone went silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, okay, wow, lots to talk about. First of all, I’ve decided to change my update schedule to every other week because the writing has been going well and I want to share this stuff. We’ll see how it goes but I’m feeling very confident (famous last words.) 
> 
> Secondly, I changed the rating on this from mature to explicit. It was my mistake that it was originally posted with the wrong rating, and I’m sorry about that. Just to be very clear: this fic will contain explicit sex scenes later on, so keep that in mind. Hopefully no harm done, but I apologize if I misled anyone. I know for some folks the difference between M and E is a deal breaker, so I wanted to make sure people were aware of the change. 
> 
> Okay, enough updates, let’s talk about this chapter! This thing was a monster to write. 10,000+ words and more drafts than I care to remember, but somehow I got through it. Basically I got really bogged down in a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff like actually needing to write an outline and laying foundations for the rest of the story. It’s made work on the rest of the story a lot easier though, so it was worth it, and I think in spite of everything it turned out alright--although at this point I’ve been over it so many times that I can’t really tell anymore. Honestly I'm just happy it's written and that the right things happen in the right order. Anyway, if it seems a bit off tonally, that’s probably why, and if it seems a bit slow, don’t worry, things pick up again in chapter 3.
> 
> So, we get a little Zim POV here. I originally intended this chapter to be all Zim, but the second half worked better for Dib. Next chapter is full-on Zim though, so get ready for that. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Next update will be 2/12


	3. Confessions

“Zim, we have to go!” Dib burst through the apartment door, tripping over a pile of books. They scattered across the floor as he staggered and caught himself on a shelf. “The ship--It’s back. It knows where we are.”

My chest tightened and I dropped the circuit board I was working on. They’d found me. I’d let my guard down like a fool, and they’d found me.

“But, the dampener!” I glanced at Gir. It was still on his arm. But then…

“It didn’t work. We have to go, I don’t know how much time we have!” Dib grabbed a bag and started shoving things into it--clothing, a flashlight, a toothbrush.

I ran to the window and leaned out as far as I could, craning to see the sky above the building, but it was clear.

“I don’t see it! How do you know it’s coming?”

“It’s… I…” Dib faltered. I looked back at him over my shoulder. He didn’t meet my eyes.

“I… I got a tip. From a friend. There’s really no time to explain, we have to go.” Dib kept shoving things into the bag, avoiding my gaze.

Something wasn’t right about this. Who was this _friend,_ and how did they know about the ship? Why would _anyone_ else know about the ship? Dib was hiding something. He looked afraid, but maybe he was just nervous that I would figure out whatever he wasn’t telling me. I already knew he’d lied to me once, why should I believe he wasn’t lying now? He could be planning anything, this could all be a ploy.

“There’s somewhere we can go,” he said, grabbing items off the coffee table. “Somewhere safe.”

“Who contacted you?” I turned on him, keeping the window close in case I needed a quick exit. “Who were you talking to?”

“It doesn’t matter, we have to go!” Dib zipped the bag and tried to grab my arm, but I evaded him, slipping between the wall and the couch. I wasn’t going anywhere with him. I didn’t know if he was telling the truth, but it didn’t really matter. Either this was a ploy and he intended to turn me in, or the ship really was coming, and in either case I couldn’t risk staying there any longer.

“Zim, come on! There’s no time!” He sounded desperate. Was that genuine? Or just a trick?

“Tell me how you know it’s coming!” I backed farther away, far enough that I’d have time to run if he tried to grab me again.

“Okay.” He held out his hands like I was a wild animal he was trying to calm. “But you have to promise to hear me out before jumping to any conclusions.”

We’d see about that.

“Tell me!” I demanded. If the ship _was_ coming, I needed to know.

“I’m guessing you know about the Swollen Eyeball Network, right?”

His words might as well have been a fist. I felt sick as the realization hit me that this was what it had all been about: he was going to hand me over to his network. He’d always wanted to see me on an autopsy table, and I might as well have handed him the scalpel myself for all the resistance I’d put up. Letting me stay here, building the dampener--he’d just been trying to keep me close until he could arrange a trap. How had I let my guard down so easily? Had I really thought this would end any differently? _Why_ had I come here?

It was suddenly very hard to breathe.

Dib was blocking my path to the window, but there was a clear route between me and the door. If I was fast, I could make it.

Dib was still talking. His words drifted in and out of focus, intermingling with thoughts of running, fighting.

“...And I know how it sounds, but I swear they don’t know anything about you. They just saw that the ship was coming here and wanted to warn me. I promise.”

“Liar!” I didn’t know what he was saying anymore, his words were just a jumble of sounds without meaning, but it didn’t matter anyway because it was all lies. I had to get away, get to safety.

I made my move, but somehow Dib got to the door first and threw himself in front of it. I leapt back, out of his reach, and tripped on the coffee table. There was nowhere to go, no space to retreat, I was trapped.

“No, Zim, please— _listen to me!”_

“Filthy lies!” I had to get out, get away, _hide._

Dib stepped toward me. He was going to capture me. I had to run, had to fight, had to be safe.

Two laser blasts seared through the wall behind Dib. He yelped and flinched away, his arms flying up to cover his face. I was vaguely aware that my PAK guns were drawn. I didn’t remember firing them, but it didn’t really matter because Dib was distracted and that was all I needed.

“Gir! The window! Go!” I hoped Gir knew what I meant because I didn’t have time to wait for him. I bolted for the window and threw myself out, legs unfurling from my PAK as I jumped. The apartment was only a few stories up, I landed safely. And then I ran, and kept running.

*  *  *

I didn’t know how long I had been running when I finally collapsed against the wall of an alley, out of breath and thoughts still racing.

 _Dib._ That filthy human. Why had I trusted him? I’d put myself in such a vulnerable position, and for what? A place to stay for a few hours and a piece of useless tech? I should have left as soon as it had become clear that he wasn’t going to allow me access to his labs. I couldn’t fathom what I had been thinking, staying so long, giving him such an opportunity to plot against me.

No matter. I had come to my senses, and there were more pressing concerns than dwelling on past mistakes. There was a way off this rotten planet, and I was going to find it.

“Gir, how much distance have we put between ourselves and the Dib?”

Gir didn’t respond.

“Gir?” I turned around expecting to find him behind me, but I was alone in the alley. Gir hadn’t followed me, he was still back at the apartment.

My guts clenched at the thought of Gir alone with Dib. Surely he would have the sense to run, though, if Dib tried anything? I couldn’t risk going back. Whatever Dib might be planning, I wasn’t going to give him the opportunity to see it through. And whether or not he had been lying about the ship, time was still running out. They would find me eventually, and if I doubled back there was a chance they would find me a lot sooner. I had to keep moving.

I considered risking a brief transmission to contact Gir, but if it was detected I’d be putting us both in danger. I’d just have to find him again once I had a ship. And If Dib did anything to him, I’d kill him. And maybe the rest of his miserable species too.

I crept to the edge of the alley and took stock of my surroundings. The street looked much like any other. I saw nothing familiar, nothing to cue me in to where I was in relation to anything else in the city. I ducked back into the alley to consider my options.

I had originally gone to Dib because he possessed advanced human technology, and it would have been so much easier to construct a ship, or anything else I needed, if I had free access to those resources. But Dib wasn’t the only source of such technology--not even within this city. It might have been easier to use a lab I was permitted entry to, but there was no reason I couldn’t gain access to such facilities on my own, albeit with significantly more disabling of security systems and killing of guards. Really, I had a larger array of choices if I didn’t have to go through Dib.There was, in fact, a place I knew of that I suspected would have far more resources than the labs beneath Dib’s house. Yes, that would probably do quite nicely.

*  *  *

It was a large facility, positioned roughly in the center of the city. I had scanned it on several occasions back when my base had been located nearby, and all of my readings had suggested the complex contained a wide array of technology that was surprisingly advanced for _humans._ There had been no real reason to investigate it further when I’d still been in possession of my base--the place was laughable compared to my own setup--but now, with my base destroyed and my options quickly narrowing, this human technology might be my only chance of escaping Earth.

The building was clearly fortified with human security systems, but they were no match for me. The roof, I decided, would do nicely for an entry point, and my PAK jets made it an easy climb. I landed by a door and made quick work of the single alarm and camera.

Inside, I found a dimly lit stairwell that wound down into darkness. Using my PAK scanners, I assembled a rough map of the facility and located a large area several stories below that contained a concentration of power signatures that were likely coming from large-scale industrial equipment. It seemed a good place to start, and the ventilation system would serve as an easy and covert route to my destination.

I moved cautiously down the stairs until I found an access point and hoisted myself into the narrow ductwork. It was dark, and cramped, and smelled unpleasant, but it was hidden and likely unmonitored.

I kept my scanners running as I moved through the building, keeping an eye out for security measures, but nothing I detected was a threat to someone moving about the ductwork. It was laughable, really, how easily humans were outwitted.

I made a point of checking my surroundings whenever I passed a grate, but the building seemed to be mostly deserted except for the occasional guard. Now and then I saw a human worker hastening down a hallway or sitting at a workstation, but none of them noticed me, and none of them looked like a threat.

It wasn’t long before I found the room I was looking for. An open vent in the duct offered a view of the darkened lab. I crouched beside it and took stock of the area. It was a large lab, filled with machines and conveyor belts and computers, but they seemed to have been shut down for the night, and there were no signs of human presence. Perfect.

My scanners located a surprisingly robust security array within the room, but even with the limited tools at my disposal it wasn’t difficult to hack the cameras, sensors, and alarms.

When I was certain I’d disabled everything, and that there were no life forms in the room, I slipped through the open grate and let my PAK legs break my fall.

The room was even larger than it had looked from the duct. Equipment stretched across a vast and spacious lab. I wandered between the quiet machinery, taking in shelves of components, boards covered in schematics and equations, and half finished projects, all lit by a wall of large windows that let in the glow of the city. I stopped before a pedestal that held the half-formed body of what was clearly a robot. Interesting. It looked like I had chosen well. If this was what they were creating here--primitive as it was--the equipment would likely be the right sort for my purposes.

Now all I needed was a plan. There wasn’t time to construct a ship, but there had to be something I could build that would give me an advantage. If I couldn’t run, I had to find a way to outsmart my pursuers. There was a way, I just had to find it.

“Move a muscle and you’re dead.”

I froze. The voice had come from behind me. I knew there hadn’t been anyone in the room a moment ago. How had they entered without me hearing?

“You have one chance to tell me who you are, and what you’re doing here, before my security drones rip your limbs off.”

Really, was that their best threat? I let out a low laugh. “I’ve already disabled your pathetic security.”

I turned around. A human figure stood silhouetted against the large windows.

“Got a death wish, huh?” A blast of energy hit the floor so close to my foot that I felt the heat through my boot. The figure took a step forward and the lights of the city glinted over the gun in their hand, but their face remained obscured.

“That was your last warning.”

 _“Fool,”_ I hissed. This human didn’t know who they were dealing with. But they’d soon learn.

In less than a second I was on the ceiling, PAK legs easily finding purchase in the maze of pipes and ducts. The human took a shot at me, but I was too quick. I swung forward then dropped, intending to land behind the human and skewer them with a leg, but something grabbed me mid-jump and slammed me to the ground, knocking the air out of me.

When I finally managed to gasp in breath, my senses caught up with the world around me. A sea of glowing eyes stared down at me, while a dozen metal arms held me in place. _Security drones._ Where had they come from? How had my scans _missed them?_

The human stepped into view above me, and a shaft of light fell across short purple hair and a face that bore an unmistakable resemblance to that of her brother. _Dib’s_ sister. As if I didn’t have enough problems.

“Well, look who it is,” she sneered down at me. “I thought you were dead, Zim.”

The thought seemed to amuse her.

I snarled and tried to pull free, but the drones only tightened their grip.

“Mind telling me why the hell you’re sneaking around my lab?” She still had the gun trained on me.

I tried to think quickly. If I could just get her to let me up, even for a second, I was certain I could escape.

I stopped struggling and tried an innocent smile. “I, uh, just took a wrong turn.”

“A wrong turn, huh? Through one of the most advanced security systems on the planet? Yeah, that’s believable, Zim. Try again.”

I felt like my brain was frozen, I couldn’t think of a single excuse, and the drones were still pressing in.

“I, uh, it’s…” I clamped my mouth shut, disgusted by the way my own voice betrayed my panic. Everything was going so wrong.

Gaz rolled her eyes and sighed. “Just tell me my brother isn’t here too, and maybe I’ll let you go.”

“I don’t know where Dib is, and I don’t care!” That, at least, was an easy answer.

Gaz raised an eyebrow. “I find that hard to believe.”

“Believe what you want, _Dib Sister,_ it makes no difference to me.”

Gaz moved so quickly I didn’t realize what was coming until her foot connected and sharp pain exploded across my chest. I tried to curl into the pain as once again I found myself gasping for air, but the drones held me too tightly.

“Call me that again, and I _will_ shoot you.”

I hissed at her with the little breathe I could draw. Once I got free, she would pay for that.

A noise echoed from somewhere in the lab and momentarily drew her attention away.

“What the hell?” She glanced around before turning back to me. “That better not be Dib.”

The noise came again--a quiet, metallic sound that I couldn’t identify.

“If he tries to escape, kill him,” she instructed the drones, then turned and disappeared into the shadows of the lab.

I strained to see where she had gone, but I couldn’t make out much from the vantage point of the floor. I considered trying to twist enough to free my PAK so I could access my weapons, but I had no doubt that the drones were capable of carrying out Gaz’s order. I would have to wait for a better opportunity.

For a long moment everything was silent. Then a gun went off, illuminating the lab in a flash of yellow light. There was a cry of pain and something hit the floor with a heavy clatter. Footsteps, a scuffle, someone running, and then…

“Wait, Gaz, it’s me!”

 _Dib!?_ What was _he_ doing here? How had he _found_ me?

I strained against the drones--I needed to know what was going on! But they slammed me back against the floor.

“Is that Zim?”

Footsteps running, and then Dib appeared above me.

“What the hell, Gaz?” He shot an angry look over his shoulder and for some reason tried to shove one of the drones off of me, but it threw him back and he lost his balance, falling to the floor with a loud thud and a cry.

“You should know better than to mess with my tech, Dib.” Gaz came back into view, dragging something behind her. She hefted a deactivated SIR unit forward and tossed it to the ground beside me.

“Friend of yours?” She asked, curling her lip at me.

For one awful instant I thought it was Gir, but no, the model was wrong. It wasn’t him. But my relief was short lived: that SIR could only have come from one place, which meant...

“Gaz, let him go. He’s not here for your corporate secrets or whatever,” Dib said from the floor.

“You’re lucky I don’t set them on you too,” Gaz snapped, but she directed a gesture at the drones and they immediately released their hold on me.

I didn’t know why Dib wanted me released, or why Gaz would take such a risk, but this was my chance and I wasn’t going to waste a second. I was halfway across the lab before Dib was even on his feet. He shouted something, but I wasn’t listening. I had to get as far away from the facility as possible. There was only one reason for that SIR to have been there, and that was to find me. I didn’t know if it had seen me, but if it _had_ they’d know my location for certain, which meant that things were about to get very bad very quickly if I didn’t move.

I couldn’t get to the grate I’d entered through without doubling back toward Dib and Gaz, but I spotted a door on the far side of the room that was ajar and sprinted for it. I could figure out an escape route once I was away from attack drones and interfering humans.

“Zim, look out!”

I barely registered Dib’s shout before the wall of windows beside me exploded in a shower of glass and red light. I was thrown back by the force of the explosion. Shards of glass rained around me, cutting my skin as I hit the floor.

“Zim!”

“Get down, you idiot!”

For a brief moment everything was blurry and muffled, and then my combat systems kicked in, bringing the world into clear focus and dulling the pain from the glass. I pushed myself to my feet.

The view through the shattered windows was blocked by a wall of crimson. Two large, metal claws were reaching through the jagged opening, knocking more glass free. The claws dug into the floor, metal shrieking against metal as they cut through with ease, anchoring the ship to the building. They’d found me. I’d been too slow, taken too long, and now there was nowhere left to run.

To my left the open door was now blocked by a fallen shelf. To my right, Dib and Gaz had taken cover behind a desk. The rest of the lab stretched out behind me, offering temporary cover but no escape. It was better than nothing.

I darted behind something large and sturdy just as a the ship let out a loud hiss. I glanced back around the edge of my cover to see a long boarding ramp slowly extending into the lab. It settled on the floor with a loud clunk.

I pressed back against the machine that was the only barrier between myself and the ship, searching the room for any means of escape. There was another door on the opposite wall, but there was no way to know if it was locked. Perhaps the duct, then, or maybe--

Metal feet clattered against the boarding ramp, just audible above the ship’s engine. I risked another glance and saw two SIR units had taken up position on either side of the ramp. Beyond them, two large figures stood silhouetted in a brightly lit airlock.

The time for thinking was over, I needed to make a decision. The duct was the only certain way out. It was the best choice. I slipped out from behind the large machine and ducked behind another, keeping to the shaodws.

“Movement detected! Tracking heat signature!”

One of the SIR units! It had seen me! I had to keep moving. I slid between desks and shelves, keeping low. The duct was close, but not close enough that I could jump for it without making myself a target.

“Rogue Defective Zim!” The words cut through the air like a knife, freezing me in my tracks. That wasn’t the voice of a SIR. It was an irken.

“There’s nowhere you can run! Give yourself up, and you won’t be harmed!”

My pulse pounded in my ears as I pressed lower into the shadows, trying to stay quiet. It was a foolish instinct: staying put would only make me easier to find. I needed to get to the duct.

“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be!” The voice called out, echoing through the lab. “This is your chance to show that you’re still loyal to the Empire!”

I bit back a cry of outrage. I had _never_ stopped being loyal to the Empire. I may have failed the Tallest, but I hadn’t wanted to, I hadn’t _tried_ to. I shook with the urge to tell this insolent worm as much--I wanted to shout it until no one would question my devotion. But it would only get me killed.

“This is your final chance! Give yourself up!”

This _was_ my final chance, and I wasn’t going to waste it. I leapt for the ceiling, or tried to, but something grabbed my leg and I fell forward instead, barely catching myself. I twisted around, kicking blindly at whatever was holding me. I caught the glow of a SIR unit’s eyes before I was pinned to the ground, arms held behind my back.

“Target secured,” the SIR announced. “Awaiting further orders.”

“Release me!” I tried to slip out of its grasp, but it was too strong.

“Hold him there,” the voice instructed.

“Dib, no!” I heard Gaz shout from somewhere nearby, then heavy footsteps and the sound of a laser gun firing, followed by more shots and then an order from Gaz to attack, no doubt directed at her drones.

There were shouts and cries of pain, but I couldn’t tell if they were human or irken over the cacophony of weapon fire. Then the weight of the SIR was suddenly gone, and someone was pulling me to my feet. I only had a moment to realize it was Dib before an energy bolt nearly took our heads off. I ducked just as Dib pushed me down, sending me careening into a stack of papers as he leapt past me. I caught myself and whipped around, intending to do something painful in retaliation, but I was met with the sight of him kicking the SIR so hard it went flying over a desk. The tangle of guns protruding from its head fired wildly as it arced through the air and clattered to the floor somewhere out of sight. I decided maybe I could let it go, just this once.

“Gaz, come one!” Dib called over his shoulder as he grabbed my arm and started running further into the lab, away from the ship, dragging me with him. I would have protested, but running did seem like the best course of action.

Gaz appeared beside us, blood now staining her lab coat, but her injuries must have been minor because they weren’t slowing her down.

“This way!” She shouted, pointing out a small door I hadn’t noticed before. She pulled a keycard from a pocket and jammed it through a reader beside the door. It beeped, but before we could get inside a bolt of energy hit Gaz. She cried out and fell against the door.

“Gaz!” Dib let go of me and dove for his sister, just as a second bolt seared through the air where he had been standing. I spun around, guns extending from my PAK. Two large irken warriors stood a few yards off.

“Step away from the door,” the one in front said, taking a step forward, his gun trained on me.

“Stay back!” I opened fire. The warriors dodged and took cover.

“You’re making a mistake, Defective! This doesn’t have to end badly for you!” The warrior shouted from the half-wall he’d ducked behind.

It was certainly going to end badly if we didn’t get moving. I glanced over my shoulder to see that Gaz had pulled herself back to her feet and was fumbling with the card reader again.

“If you run, you won’t get out of this alive. We’re offering you a chance to serve the Empire once more--you won’t get this opportunity again. You made a mistake, the Tallest understand that. It’s not too late to make amends. Surely even _you_ aren’t defective enough to choose death over the opportunity to redeem yourself in the eyes of the Tallest.”

Redeem myself? But… weren’t they here to kill me? Or take me back to Irk to be executed?

Behind me the lock beeped and Dib grabbed the back of my sweater, pulling me through the door. I stumbled after him.

“He’s getting away!” One of the warriors shouted just as Gaz slammed the door behind us.

I stared at the closed door, my mind racing back through everything the warriors had said. If they weren’t here to kill me then… what did they want? What was it they’d said about a mistake?

“Gaz, are you okay?”

Gaz pushed Dib away.

“I’m fine, no thanks to you.”

Blood stained the sleeve of her coat down to the cuff, and she was holding her arm stiffly at her side. She brushed past Dib and pulled open a panel on the wall, revealing a small cache of medical supplies. Dib stood by awkwardly, looking nervous.

I moved away from the door and took stock of the room. We were in a large, dimly lit office, and aside from a window on one wall, the only exit was the door we’d come in through.

“Why did you lead us here?” I spun around to face Gaz. “Now we’re trapped!”

We would have been better off seeking cover in the lab. Now if we tried to leave, the warriors would have the advantage, and if we stayed we’d only be waiting until they inevitably found a way in.

Gaz didn’t respond, just kept tending to her wound.

“Hey!” I wasn’t going to be ignored.

“Zim, shut up,” Dib snapped.

“This is all _your_ fault!” I shouted, rounding on Dib, and it felt good to have someone to yell at.

“I’m not the one who decided to run off like an idiot!” Dib shot back.

“If you’d let me use your labs, I wouldn’t have needed to come here!”

“I don’t have a lab!”

“Lies!”

Gaz slammed the wall panel shut. “If you two don’t shut up--”

A thunderous bang from the door drown out Gaz’s threat.

“They’re trying to get in!” I backed further into the room, keenly aware of how exposed the office was.

“Gaz, tell me you have a plan!” Dib looked desperately to his sister.

Gaz strode calmly to the back of the room and pressed something on her wrist. A section of wall slid open before her, revealing a small chamber.

“This elevator goes to the ground floor. Come on.” Gaz stepped inside. Dib hurried to join her, and I followed. Being crammed in a small box with two humans wasn’t really a desirable prospect, but I was low on options.

Another loud bang issued from the office door, but the elevator was already closing.

“Squires?” Gaz spoke into a communication device on her wrist as the elevator began to descend. “Put the facility on red alert. Evacuate all non-essential personnel, and get a team up to the eighteenth floor. We have a code one breach.”

“Yes, Doctor,” came the muffled reply from the other end.

“And you,” Gaz aimed a finger at Dib. “You’re going to tell me why aliens just wrecked my lab, and why you brought _him_ here.” She gestured to me. “And you better hope I like the answer.”

“It’s kind of complicated,” Dib said, not meeting Gaz’s glare. “I don’t really know what’s going on.”

“Not good enough.”

“Really, Gaz, I don’t know.” Dib put his hands up defensively. “And it wasn’t my idea to come here.”

“You destroy my lab, damage my work, get me _shot_ , and you can’t even give me an explanation?”

“I…” Dib looked away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for you to get involved in this.”

“Yeah, you never do. And _yet_.” Gaz’s tone was bitter.

Thankfully that marked the end of their argument. Dib hunched miserably in the corner and Gaz glared at the floor until the elevator finally slowed and the doors slid open.

The corridor outside was dark, illuminated only by dim red lights. Gaz knew the facility, so I followed as she led the way down twisting hallways.

“This leads to the parking garage,” Gaz said, pausing by a door labeled “Exit” in bright green. “It should be less conspicuous than the main entrance. Here,” she shoved two plastic cards into Dib’s hand. “These will get you past security.”

“You need a guest pass just to _leave_ the building?” Dib asked, holding up the cards.

“Just get out of here. I need to go clean up your mess now.” Gaz turned to go.

“Gaz, wait,” Dib called. She paused but didn’t turn to look at him. “I… I really am sorry. Are you going to be okay?”

A long silence stretched between them. I eyed the passes clutched in Dib’s hand. It would have been easy to grab them and run.

“Don’t get yourself killed,” Gaz finally said, and continued down the corridor.

Dib looked down at the passes and stared at them for a long moment. There really wasn’t time for standing around or having pointless arguments, but before I could say anything Dib abruptly shoved the passes into his pocket and headed through the exit without a word. I followed, keeping an ear out in case anyone was tracking us.

Dib handled the guards that we encountered, and after a frustratingly long delay at the final gate, we were allowed out.

The night air wasn’t exactly refreshing, tainted as it was with the stink of humans and the filthy city, but it felt good to be in a space where I couldn’t be cornered. I knew the warriors were still nearby and that haste was still called for, but I felt just a little less like everything was collapsing in on itself.

“I guess we should probably get out of the city.”

I had nearly forgotten about Dib in my relief to be out of the building. He stood next to me on the sidewalk, looking distracted and sullen.

“‘ _We’_ aren’t going to be doing anything.”

“Really, Zim? Can you _not_ right now? Let’s just get the car and—“

“Drop the act, Dib! I know you only want to take me to your network!” I hadn’t forgotten his thinly veiled attempt to trap me. Letting him clear a path out of the facility was one thing, but he had served his purpose now and I wasn’t going to be fooled by his games. He’d only helped in order to secure me for his own purposes.

“Is that why you think I followed you all the way over here?” Dib’s voice rose as he went on. “Risked my life? Made Gaz hate me even more? Just so I could give you to the Eyeball!?”

“Didn’t you?”

“No!” The shout started angry but ended as something closer to a plea. He looked suddenly very defeated.

“Why should I believe you?” I knew the answer: I shouldn’t. It was dangerous and pointless. I was an _invader—_ the definition of self-reliance. I didn’t need Dib’s help, so it didn’t matter if he was telling the truth. And yet… I wanted to know.

“Because we made a deal, remember?”

I remembered poorly formed attempts to convince him to do what I wanted, but I wouldn’t really have called it a deal. Had it actually meant something to him: my vague promise that he could somehow save Earth by aiding me?

“This won’t save your planet, you know. You could kill me and it wouldn’t make a difference.” It didn’t matter now if he knew the truth. My plan had failed, I couldn’t use him anymore. It had all gone wrong, just like everything always did.

“Yeah.” Dib’s shoulders sagged. “I know.”

“Then why? Why are you still here!”

“I…” He faltered.

“You could offer me to the Empire in exchange for sparing your world! Or take me to your network and open their small minds to reality!” The words spilled out of my mouth, I couldn’t stop them. I needed to know that he understood what he was trying to make me believe. “Or finally prove to your insignificant world that you’ve been right all along! Why don’t you? Why put yourself in danger if you know it won’t even save your pathetic species? Why should I believe that you would want to help me? That anyone would help me!”

The words wouldn’t stop. I threw my hands over my mouth but it was too late, I’d said too much. Dib was staring at me, an odd expression on his face.

“You’re a fool!” I shouted, trying to fight the panic rising inside me. “You’re throwing away your only chance to make anything of your meaningless life!”

Dib looked down and spread his hands helplessly. “I think I already did,” he said, and his voice quivered with emotion. “I haven’t done anything with my life. Since you left, everything’s just fallen apart.”

He looked up at me again, and there was something in his eyes I’d never seen before. “And yeah, I guess I could take you to the Eyeball and prove that aliens exist, and maybe they’d finally respect me as an investigator, and maybe my dad would realize that I’m not just a waste of space, and maybe I wouldn’t wake up every morning feeling like a failure. But I don’t want to. I know it doesn’t make any sense, but these past two days I’ve felt more like myself than I have in years, and I just want that to last a little longer--because I know you’re going to leave, and everything will just go back to the way it’s been, and I don’t think I can face that.”

He let his arms fall back to his sides and just stood there, looking terrifyingly vulnerable. I’d never seen Dib like this, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do with it. Had so much really changed since I’d been away? I hadn’t really considered what might have happened in his life while I was gone. Somehow I’d expected to find him exactly as I’d left him. But he wasn’t the same, and I wasn’t either, and things could never go back to the way they’d been.

“You were...always a worthy rival.” The words were stupid, and I felt like a fool for saying them. But there was nothing wrong with a soldier admitting respect for a capable opponent, was there? And maybe I missed the old days a little too—the challenge, the purpose.

Dib laughed, and moisture glinted in the corner of his eye. “Thanks.”

“You really don’t want to turn me over to your network?”

“No.” Dib sniffed and wiped at his eyes. “I really don’t. But I do think we should probably get out of here.”

“And go where? They’re just going to find me again.”

“I know. But with all the crazy schemes we used to come up with, I think maybe we can figure something out between the two of us.”

“I still don’t know why you’re doing this.”

“I don’t think I know either.” He shrugged and scuffed the ground with his foot. “Come on, the car’s just down the street.”

There was no reason to stay, and so many reasons to leave, but for the first time in days I didn’t feel like I might need to run at any moment, and when Dib turned down the street and gestured for me to follow, I did. He glanced my way as I matched his pace and I caught a small, nervous smile before he turned away. It was strange to see him smile.

“Gir’s going to be happy to see you,” he said, and I felt a sudden pang of guilt. There had been so much happening, I hadn’t thought about Gir since I’d had to leave him behind.

“Where is he?”

“I left him in the car. I couldn’t get him to stay in the apartment, he really freaked out after you ran off.”

I was surprised he’d actually managed to get Gir to wait anywhere, but it was good that he was nearby.

“How’d you know where to find me, anyway?”

Dib shrugged. “It just made sense. It’s the only place nearby with the resources you were looking for.”

“Mm.”

Dib’s vehicle came into view as we turned down a side street and suddenly I was nearly knocked over backward as Dib threw an arm out in front of me.

“What are you--!”

“What the hell?” Dib hissed over my protest, and at the same moment I regained my balance and saw what had alarmed him. The interior of the vehicle was illuminated by the overhead light, and sitting in the front passenger seat was a figure that was definitely not Gir. A short, green figure in a poorly assembled disguise that I easily recognized him through.

_“Skoodge!”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late post! I had some unexpected stuff come up over the weekend and it threw off my schedule. Anyway, here we are! A little shorter than I’d planned, but hopefully still worth the wait. 
> 
> When I started this chapter I was a little terrified to write the whole thing from Zim's POV. Getting inside of his head and not completely messing it up was very daunting. I was worried I'd make him too mean and angry, or too dramatic. Looking at the finished piece, I think I found the right balance, and I ended up having such a wonderful time writing him that I'm almost sad to go back to Dib (sorry Dib!) He's not canon Zim, but I think he's the right Zim for this story.
> 
> Also, I've been so excited to bring Gaz into the story since chapter 1, and I'm thrilled to finally be writing her. I'm glad it worked out to introduce her first through Zim's POV because I think we get a more unbiased perspective than Dib will have, and she gets to be a little scary, which only seems right. The scenes where Dib and Gaz are talking and Zim is just observing were a little challenging, because I had to convey this important and emotional stuff that Zim just wasn't that interested in, and I was worried it wouldn't work, but I think I like that we get to see those interactions from the outside after all. 
> 
> This is the happiest I've been with my writing in a while, especially after chapter 2 (which I may attempt to clean up a bit someday.) I think I'm getting a better feel for the story and the way I want to write the characters. Writing a long story like this is still very new to me and I'm definitely figuring it out as I go, but it's fun to keep working on my skills.
> 
> Thanks for sticking with this thing! <3
> 
> Next update: 2/26


	4. Unlikely Allies

There were several things I would have liked to do besides avert another crisis. Getting far away from the aliens that had tried to kill me twice was at the top of the list. Sleeping for a hundred years was a close second. Definitely not on the list was finding an alien waiting in my car.

The small uninvited guest looked as surprised as I was when we rounded the corner and found him sitting in the passenger seat. I’d thrown an arm out instinctively to stop Zim, and he shoved it out of the way.

“Skoodge!” Zim hissed. I wondered briefly if that was some irken swear as the door of the car opened and the alien jumped out. He was wearing a hat and dark sunglasses, but the green skin was a dead giveaway that he was irken.

“Zim!” The irken called. “It’s really you!”

“Um…” I glanced at Zim, who was glaring daggers at the other irken. “You know each other?”

“Skoodge, what are you doing here?” Zim demanded, ignoring my question. Apparently Skoodge was a name?

“You’re really here! I wasn’t sure you’d still be on this planet.” The irken-- _Skoodge_ \--took a few steps toward us, and Zim stepped back, every muscle in his body tensing. Skoodge stopped short, uncertainty flickering across his face.

“Is he with the others?” I asked quietly, ready to run or fight if needed. Skoodge was small, I could probably handle him if he attacked.

Zim shook his head no, not breaking eye contact with Skoodge.

“It… it’s good to see you, Zim,” Skoodge said hesitantly. “I wasn’t sure you’d still be… that the Tallest hadn’t…” he trailed off, like he’d thought better of what he was going to say.

“What do you _want,_ Skoodge?” Zim’s voice was low and threatening.

“Sorry, I know this is unexpected. This isn’t how I’d planned to… well, it doesn’t matter now.” Skoodge took a deep breath and seemed to collect his thoughts. “I need to talk to you.”

Skoodge hesitated, glancing at me. “Maybe in private?” He added.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Zim shot back.

“Zim, what’s going on? Who is this guy?” I was tired of being left in the dark, and of standing around when we really needed to be moving.

Zim broke his death glare with Skoodge to look at me. “His name is Skoodge. He _used_ to be an invader.”

“Used to be? What is he now?”

Zim looked back at Skoodge. “A traitor.”

Skoodge looked taken aback. “Then, you know?”

“Know what?” Zim took a menacing step forward and Skoodge stepped back. “That you’re with the Resisty? That you’ve betrayed everything you were supposed to protect?” He took another step toward Skoodge and I almost reached out to stop him, but thought better of it. “What you and your _filthy_ insurgents have done to the Empire is unforgivable.”

That seemed to spark something in Skoodge and he drew himself up. “I understand why you see it that way, Zim, but the Resisty isn’t what you think.”

“What’s the Resisty?” I asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” Zim snapped.

Skoodge looked like he wanted to argue that point, but changed his mind. “I’m sorry. This isn’t why I came here.”

“Why _are_ you here?” I asked, keeping an eye on Zim who looked ready to kill.

Skoodge eyed me uncertainly. “I need help.” He looked back at Zim. “I need your help, Zim.”

“ _My_ help?” Zim laughed. “I would _never_ betray the Empire by helping scum like you.”

“Look, I don’t know what this is about, but we have to go.” I glanced over my shoulder, checking the sky for spaceships. There really wasn’t time for standing around.

“We have places to be, Skoodge,” Zim said, as if we had some important engagement and weren’t in the process of running for our lives. He moved toward the car but Skoodge blocked his path.

“Zim, wait!” He pleaded. “You can’t just leave! Please, hear me out. It’s not just me that’s in trouble, I didn’t come here alone.” He spoke quickly, words tumbling over each other as he tried to say everything before Zim lost patience. “My crew, they’re the ones who need help. We had to make an emergency landing, and the local lifeforms caught us off guard. They took my crew.”

“Out of my way!” Zim shoved Skoodge aside. Skoodge stumbled back, looking shocked and hurt.

“I don’t understand,” he said as Zim moved to the car. “I would have expected you, of all people, to have reason to question the Empire. I know what the Tallest did to you, Zim.”

What happened next was a blur of green skin and swinging limbs as Zim lunged for Skoodge, and Skoodge attempted to dodge the attack.

“You know nothing!” Zim screamed as he caught hold of Skoodge’s shirt.

“Hey, _hey!”_ I jumped between the two and shoved them apart. “We just finished one fight—can we at least get some sleep before we have another?”

“Don’t touch me!” Zim shouted, tearing away from my hand.

“I’m sorry,” Skoodge said, and he looked like he meant it. “I didn’t mean… I just wanted to…”

“Just leave me alone!” Zim had backed up against the car door, and seeing the opportunity he opened it and dove inside, shutting the door quickly behind him and leaving me alone with Skoodge.

Skoodge looked down at the pavement. “I really thought he’d listen,” he said quietly.

I glanced back at the car, but I couldn’t see Zim. I wanted to go make sure he was alright, and I also wanted to get moving before we were found again. Skoodge wasn’t my responsibility—I didn’t even know him, it wasn’t my obligation to help with whatever he was involved in. I had enough on my plate with Zim, and this whole thing was threatening the paper-thin trust he’d shown by coming with me instead of running like he’d wanted to.

“Look, I’m sorry about Zim. I don’t know what all this is about, but we have problems of our own right now. I don’t think we can help.” I took a few steps back toward the car, hoping I could make a quick exit.

“Would you talk to him for me?” Skoodge looked up at me, and even through the sunglasses I could see how desperate he was.

“I’m sorry, I really am. But I’m probably the last person Zim would listen to, and we really need to keep moving.” I stepped around the front of the car.

“Wait!” Skoodge grabbed the back of my shirt. “You’re native to this planet, right?”

“Um, yes?” I couldn’t imagine where this was going.

“And you know about us,” he gestured to himself, “so you know about the Irken Empire too?”

“Yeah.”

“Then this concerns you just as much as Zim--maybe more.” He stared up at me earnestly, his words quick and desperate. “Your world hasn’t been invaded yet, so maybe the threat seems distant, but someday you’ll be marked for conquest too, and from what I’ve seen of your planet, you won’t stand a chance on your own. The Resisty exists to protect worlds like yours. We’re fighting back against the Empire, we want to put a stop to their devastation. Your people deserve to be free, and so do the billions of other worlds that the Empire will enslave or destroy if they continue unchallenged. The Resisty is the only force that’s ever been able to stand against them, and now…” Skoodge looked away, his words trailing off as his face darkened with some unpleasant memory.

“Now, we’re in danger,” he continued. “The Empire found our headquarters. My crew and I barely managed to escape before it was destroyed. I don’t know how many others survived, we haven’t been able to make contact with anyone since the attack. For all I know, we’re all that’s left.”

Skoodge looked back up at me, searching for an answer. His plea wasn’t lost on me, I knew all too well how much of a threat the Irken Empire was. I’d spent my entire childhood trying to fight them, doing all one kid could do against a conquering force that spanned galaxies, and if Zim had still been trying to destroy the Earth I’d still have been fighting to save it, but right then my priority was helping Zim, and I couldn’t help Skoodge and his Resisty at the same time. Maybe once things were resolved with Zim, but not now.

“I’m sorry.” And I was. “But I have other problems right now. And anyway, we just barely escaped two crazy irkens and their robot army, and they’re still after us. If we try to help you, you’re just going to end up with more problems.”

Skoodge stepped back from me, clearly alarmed. “Irkens? There are irken soldiers _here?_ On this planet?”

“Yeah. They’re after Zim, and we really need to keep moving because I don’t think they’re going to give up.”

“What do they want with Zim?” Skoodge asked, eyes wide behind his sunglasses.

“I wish I knew. Whatever they want, they’re not messing around. I think if he doesn’t surrender, they’re going to kill him.” I didn’t know what to make of the things I’d overheard in Gaz’s lab yet, and I didn’t want to divulge them before I gave Zim a chance to explain, especially to an alien that I knew practically nothing about.

“What’s he going to do? Is he getting off-world?” Skoodge asked, and I was surprised by the concern in his voice.

“Uh, yeah. I mean, that’s the plan. We don’t really have a ship or anything but we’re working on it.” Was that giving too much away? I wasn’t sure I should be talking to Skoodge about this, I still didn’t really know who he was.

“ _I_ have a ship!” Skoodge grabbed my arms, suddenly brimming with enthusiasm. “If he needs a way off-world, he can come with me! Once I free my crew, we can offer him protection too! I’d gladly do that for Zim.”

“Really?” I glanced back at the car where I could now see just the top of Zim’s head through the window.

“Of course!” He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I’ve known Zim since we were smeets. I understand we’re on different sides of this, but I still care what happens to him.”

“I don’t think he feels the same,” I pointed out, not sure I trusted Skoodge. I felt like I was getting two versions of a story and I didn’t know which to believe.

“He has good reasons to say what he did,” Skoodge said, looking sadly at the car. “But I refuse to believe there’s not a part of him that still cares about me too.”

Once again I found myself trying to make a choice without nearly enough details: what was the real story with this Resisty, could Skoodge actually be trusted, and what had he meant about the Tallest doing something to Zim? It was frustrating to have so many questions and no time to get answers. It would have simplified things to tell Skoodge that I couldn’t help and just leave, but I wasn’t sure I could afford to. The truth was that I didn’t know how I was going to get Zim off of Earth, or even what I was going to do the next time those soldiers caught up with us. We couldn’t run forever, if for no other reason than because I barely had enough money in the bank to cover the next month’s rent, let alone an extended road trip while we tried to stay one step ahead of aliens that quite frankly we were probably no match for. We needed a quick solution, and if Skoodge had a ship and really was willing to get Zim off Earth, maybe it was worth at least talking about the possibility.

“Okay, I’ll try talking to him.”

Skoodge looked up at me with hopeful eyes.

“Just, give me a few minutes,” I said, already regretting my decision. “And let me know if you see any giant, pink spaceships.”

“Right, I’ll stand guard. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” I muttered under my breath as I moved to the driver’s side door. Skoodge had far more confidence in my ability to persuade Zim than I did.

Zim was sitting in the passenger seat, curled in on himself. He glanced my way as I got in.

“Hey,” I said, not sure how else to start things. He hugged his knees a little tighter and looked away.

This already felt a million times more awkward than I’d imagined. I wasn’t even sure where we stood anymore: were we enemies? Temporary allies? Had the things we’d said outside the lab changed things, or kept them the same? When I tried to fit the events of the last two days into a tidy category it just didn’t work. We were what we were, and I wasn’t sure it made sense to analyze it. Maybe labels didn’t matter.

“Are we leaving?” Zim asked sullenly. His voice sounded a little hoarse.

“Soon,” I said, and there was my cue to explain what I was there to talk about. If only my stomach would stop twisting in knots.

“He, uh…” I started, searching for the right words, or just any words. “Skoodge wanted me to talk to you.”

Zim’s hands tightened into fists. “I already told him I want nothing to do with him.”

“I know.” I stared at the steering wheel, bracing myself for more yelling. “But he offered to help us if we help him. He has a ship.”

“I don’t need his help.” Zim didn’t sound angry like I’d expected. If anything, he sounded strained and tired. Maybe all of this was a bit much for him. I knew it was for me.

“Maybe not, but I think I might.” I sighed and traced circles along the steering wheel. “I meant what I said: that I want to see this through. But I don’t have a plan. If Skoodge can really help, I’m not sure we can afford to say no.”

“You don’t understand.” Zim sunk lower in his seat, folding in on himself like he wanted to disappear. “I’d be committing treason. The Tallest could have me executed. Any hope I had of…” he stopped, as if catching himself saying something he hadn’t meant to. “It would all be gone,” he finished vaguely.

I let out a deep breath and looked up at the sky. It was muddy with the city lights and devoid of stars, but I stared anyway, trying to make out the smudgy glow of distant suns beyond the pollution. It felt strangely like what I’d been doing since Zim had shown up: navigating through a thick fog without a map, or even a destination, just a sense that something lay on the other side that I needed to find.

I got that he had things he didn’t want me to know, it wasn’t like I was scrambling to tell him my life story either, but I was tired of stumbling around in the dark. I needed answers, because things weren’t adding up and there was only so much I could do without some idea of what was going on.

“I might be missing something here,” I started carefully, “because I know there’s a lot you aren’t telling me, but it looks to me like you’re already in trouble with your Tallest.” I’d heard what the irken soldiers in the lab had said, and I could put the pieces together. It wasn’t a whole picture, but it was enough.

Zim didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure he’d heard me. “All I’m saying is, does it really matter at this point? Isn’t getting out of this alive what we should be focusing on?”

Zim’s breathing suddenly hitched and he hugged himself tighter, rocking forward slightly in his seat.

“Hey, are you okay?” I asked in alarm as his whole body shuddered and he dug his hands into his wig, burying his face against his knees. A muffled sob shook his small frame.

I stared at him like an idiot, completely unable to move or react. I had no idea what I was supposed to do, I felt like I was witnessing something I had no right to see, something Zim wouldn’t want anyone to see.

“I—I’m sorry, I should go, I didn’t mean--“ I babbled, fumbling for the door handle.

“It’s already over, isn’t it?” Zim gasped through a sob, his words muffled behind his knees.

I stopped, my hand on the door and half my brain telling me to get the hell out of the car before Zim realized I’d seen too much, while the other half screamed that it was wrong and cowardly to leave him alone.

“Nothing I do will change anything.” He was shaking badly now, his sobs hoarse and desperate.

I searched for something to say, but I was completely out of my depth. I was shit at this sort of thing even with people I considered friends. I had no idea what I could possibly say that wouldn’t just make everything worse, so I just sat there like an asshole while he cried next to me, huddled against the door and looking like his world was collapsing around him. And dammit, what were people supposed to do in situations like this? Words felt useless, everything I could have said was just an empty platitude that wouldn’t mean anything.

“Are you gonna be okay?” I asked, because I couldn’t think of anything else.

“No.” He said the word as if he was just realizing it himself, and he let out a hoarse gasp, pulling in on himself even tighter.

I didn’t know what I could possibly say to that, so I said nothing. Zim was quiet too, except for the occasional rasping intake of unsteady breath.

“What if they never stop?”  The words were so quiet and muffled it took me a moment to work out what he’d said. “What if I run and they find me again?”

“Then we’ll run again.” It wasn’t a promise I was sure I could keep, but I knew I would try.

“I thought they’d leave me alone if I just stayed quiet and didn’t make any more trouble. I told myself that I could stay here and at least I’d be alive. But it wasn’t enough. Nothing I do is ever enough.” He choked out the words.

“Hey, don’t talk like that! What happened to ‘Zim is amazing’ and ‘Zim never loses?’” It was horrible to see Zim like this. I used to hate his overconfidence, but now, without it, he seemed so fragile, like he might break into a million pieces. “What about all the times you almost destroyed the Earth? I mean, some of those were pretty good plans. And remember that time you turned me into a sausage?”

“It was supposed to be permanent,” Zim muttered.

“Yeah, well, maybe it’s good that you got that one wrong.”

His hands relaxed from their death grip on the back of his head, and slowly he lowered them to rest around his knees. “Maybe.”

“I mean, you’d still be a sausage now if you got everything right all the time. Sometimes mistakes work out.”

“If I was a sausage, the Empire would probably leave me alone.”

“Hey, you’ve got a point.” I put on a serious tone. “You have any of that serum left?”

Zim laughed. It was coarse and brief and could have been mistaken for a cough, but I’d heard it, and he wasn’t crying anymore.

“I know there’s a lot going on,” I said, “and I probably don’t understand half of it, but I’m not giving up, and the Zim I know wouldn’t either.”

We were both quiet after that, and I wondered if I should say more, or if Zim just needed time to think.

“You ever miss those days?” I asked when the silence felt like it had gone on too long. It wasn’t really what we needed to talk about, but I’d been thinking about the past a lot since Zim had shown up. It was without a doubt strange to miss a time when I’d literally been the only thing standing in the way of my planet’s destruction, but right then I would have given almost anything to go back to those times.

Zim shifted a little so his head rested on his arms and his face was turned to me. His eyes looked a little puffy and his cheeks were wet.

“I miss having purpose.”

“Yeah. I know what you mean.” There had been a time when I’d always had a new project to work on, or a new theory to explore. The world had seemed limitless and full of mysteries to be unraveled.

“Where did you go, when you left?” I didn’t know what was possessing me to ask these questions, but somehow the timing just felt right. Maybe I was just being selfish, taking advantage of the moment to sate my curiosity.

Zim shrugged. “Another city,” he said hollowly.

I nodded, thinking about how strange it had been to find nothing but an empty space where his house had been. “I looked for you.”

I didn’t know what I expected him to say to that, I just wanted him to know. I’d never really talked about Zim’s disappearance with anyone. Oh, I’d made a few posts about my search here and there, and I’d probably vented to Gaz once or twice when we were still talking, but it had all been one sided. No one had cared that Zim was gone any more than they’d cared that he was an alien.

Zim was staring at the floor, a distant look in his eyes. “I didn’t want to be found,” he said quietly.

I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, nervous to ask my next question, but needing to know.

“What happened?”

I waited, oddly aware of every small noise in the silence that passed between us—my own breathing, the shift of Zim’s boot against his seat, the distant sounds of cars and people.

“I lost.” Zim’s voice choked a bit and I felt immediately guilty for upsetting him again. But he didn’t collapse in on himself like before, although his eyes glistened a bit.

I didn’t want to press him for more details, so I tried to figure out on my own what he meant. The last time the two of us had faced off, I was fairly certain Zim had won, although it hadn't been over anything that important, however dire it had no doubt seemed at the time. I couldn't remember the details anymore. I remembered more clearly the very last time I'd seen him. We hadn't even talked, I'd just noticed him sitting in a park while I was walking home. I'd thought about seeing what he was up to, but I'd had entrance exams to study for and it hadn't seemed worth it. I'd regretted that decision for a long time, wondered if it might have made a difference if I'd stopped that day. It had only been a little while after that when I'd discovered his house was gone.

Something painful twisted in my chest at the memory, something I hadn't let myself acknowledge in a long time: a regret I thought I shouldn't feel for a lost connection that shouldn't have mattered the way it did.

“You don’t mean against me, do you?” I asked, aware of the only option that left.

“No.”

I nodded, understanding what that meant and that he knew too. Whatever had happened, it had been between him and his people--the Empire or the Tallest or something like that. If he wasn’t ready to tell me the details, that was okay.

“Is it something that we can fix?”

Zim shook his head. I took a long moment to think about that, and about what our options really were. We didn’t have a lot of choices left.

“Okay. So, hear me out,” I took a steadying breath, trying to organize my thoughts. “The Empire or whatever is angry at you--maybe they want you dead, maybe they want something else, but whatever it is, it’s definitely bad. Do I have that right?”

Zim hesitated before nodding.

“Okay. If they’re after you anyway, and we can’t do anything to fix that, then would it actually make anything worse if they had another reason to be angry with you?”

Zim rested his chin on his knees and looked out the window for a long moment. Maybe he was looking at Skoodge, who was standing a little ways off, waiting patiently with his back turned to us.

“It just seems like, if we don’t help Skoodge, the Empire is still after you and we don’t gain anything. But if we help Skoodge, we gain an ally and a ship. Maybe I’m oversimplifying this, but that’s what makes sense to me.”

Zim leaned back in his seat and frowned at his knees. “Invaders aren’t supposed to need allies.”

“I don’t think would-be paranormal investigators are supposed to help aliens that try to destroy their planet, either, but,” I shrugged, “here we are.”

“If I help him, they’ll know,” Zim said, watching Skoodge.

“Well screw them. They blew up your ship and tried to kill you. Since when do you take that kind of shit from anyone?”

Zim crossed his arms and scowled at me. “Skoodge has a ship?”

“That’s what he said.”

“What did he want, again?”

“I guess his crew was captured or something.”

Zim picked at one of his gloves. “This is a stupid idea.”

I shrugged. “Probably. But it’s either this or wait for my money to run out while those soldiers chase us down. And I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of running.”

“Fine. But he has to sit in the back with Gir.”

“Hey, where _is_ Gir?” I craned to see over the back of my seat.

“Sleeping,” Zim said just as I spotted Gir curled up on the floor.

“Does he actually need to sleep?” It seemed like a weird thing for a robot to do. Then again, it was hardly the strangest thing about Gir.

“No,” Zim grumbled. “He just likes it.”

“Huh. Okay, I’ll go talk to Skoodge.”

I got out of the car and called Skoodge over.

“I think I convinced him,” I said, and opened the door for him, but Skoodge held back.

“Thank you,” he said, with so much genuine gratitude that it was embarrassing.

“It’s no problem,” I said, feeling awkward and wishing he would just get in the car so I could stop trying to think of something more appropriate to say.

“I didn’t get your name,” he said.

“Dib. It’s Dib.” I said, pulling the door a little wider for him.

“I’m glad we met each other, Dib.” With that he finally climbed inside the car. I shut the door and got back into the driver’s seat, glad the conversation was over.

“Okay, where to?” I asked as I pulled out of the parking space. It was a relief to be moving again, death seemed a lot less imminent when we weren’t sitting a block away from a ship full of killer aliens.

“Here!” Skoodge held something out over the back of my seat. I reached back and took what turned out to be a small device. The screen displayed a set of Irken characters that looked like they might be coordinates. I tried to make sense of them while keeping an eye on the road.

“That’s where my crew was captured,” Skoodge said. “I don’t know where they were taken, or why. I only know it was your people who found them.”

I assumed by “your people” he meant humans, which wasn’t much to go on. Of course, my first thought was the military. It was no secret in the paranormal community that they were in possession of alien technology recovered from at least three confirmed sites—probably more—and they would have the resources and manpower to subdue a crew of aliens. I’d have to check in with the Eyeball and see if anyone had seen or heard anything. In the meantime, examining the location where they’d been captured was a good place to start looking for clues—if it was accessible. Things could get complicated if the military was involved, they’d likely have the site guarded, which would make getting in challenging—but not impossible.

“Can you read this?” I handed Zim Skoodge’s device and fished my phone out of my pocket. I entered the coordinates as Zim read them off.

“How big was your crew?” I asked as the GPS brought up the fastest route.

“We were twenty,” Skoodge said. “But… only seven made it.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” It was stupid to be shocked. Skoodge had said his situation was serious, I just hadn’t realized how serious.

“Thank you,” Skoodge said, his voice strained.

There was nothing else I could say, so I focused on reviewing the route on the phone.

“Wait a minute, this can’t be right.” I held the phone out for Zim to see. “This is taking us to Alvin’s place.”

Zim gave me a blank look.

“The junkyard?” I prompted.

“Ah, yes, the junkyard,” Zim said, clearly not seeing what I was getting at.

“That ship we found!” I said, my mind reeling as the pieces clicked into place. “It was his!”

Zim looked at me like I was stupid while I sputtered over the realization.

“He was the one in the recording, wasn’t he?” I said, finally managing a coherent sentence.

“You’re just realizing this now?” Zim asked, while Skoodge looked on in confusion from the backseat.

“I can’t believe this—we were _just there!”_

“I like the junkyard.” Gir’s head poked up between the front seats. I pushed him back and he plopped onto the seat next to Skoodge.

“You were there?” Skoodge asked, clearly confused.

“Yeah. But there wasn’t anyone there at the time, it was just an empty ship.”

I put the phone on the dashboard. “This doesn’t make any sense. I need to talk to Alvin, I think he’s involved in all of this somehow.”

A thought struck me. “Hold on, you told me you had a ship.” I glanced at Skoodge in the rearview mirror. “But the ship we found was wrecked. Zim said it couldn’t even be fixed.”

Skoodge shifted nervously. “I do have a ship,” he said tentatively. “We had two. But…”

“But?” I didn’t like where this was going.

“They took the ship too.”

“Oh, for—!” I ran a hand through my hair, trying to focus on driving and not punching something. This night was just getting better and better.

“It was still spaceworthy though!” Skoodge assured me, a tinge of desperation in his tone. “We just need to find it!”

“Fine, fine, we’ll figure it out when we get there.” It wouldn’t do any good to be angry at this point, it wasn’t like we had a better option. I’d certainly be more skeptical of Skoodge in the future, though. I’d really fallen for that honesty routine of his.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to mislead you,” Skoodge said miserably. “I wasn’t sure you’d help if I told you the truth.”

There was something a little pitiful about Skoodge that made me want to forgive him, despite knowing he had lied.

“Let’s just focus on figuring out who’s behind this. Then we can worry about how we’re going to get the damn ship.”

Beside me, Zim propped his feet against the glovebox and looked out the window. He seemed oddly withdrawn. I would have expected him to be angry at Skoodge or at least to have an opinion, but he seemed completely uninterested. I was struck not for the first time by how much things really had changed. In moments like this, he was so different from the Zim I’d known.

I forced my thoughts back to the problem at hand, trying to work out who might have taken Skoodge’s crew and what Alvin’s connection to all of this was. I had a million theories by the time the junkyard came into view, each just as likely as the next until I had some evidence to test them against. I parked the car on a dark side street and turned off the engine.

“Okay, someone has to stay with Gir,” I pointed out. I wasn’t interested in a repeat of last time. Speaking of which, I pulled the backpack of supplies I’d brought from behind my seat and dug out a flashlight. I clicked it on a few times to make sure the batteries were good.

“Wait, a SIR could be useful,” Skoodge said.

Zim and I exchanged looks.

“I’ll stay,” Zim said.

“Alright. We’ll take a quick look around and come back.”

“Right,” Skoodge said, not pushing the Gir issue.

Outside the air had grown a little chilly. I buried my hands in my pockets and hunched my shoulders against the cold as we made our way along the dark road. I didn’t want to risk attracting attention with the flashlight until I was certain there was no one around. On any normal night I was sure Alvin would already have gone home, since it was now pushing one in the morning, but there was nothing normal about any of this.

“What can you tell me about the people who took your crew?” I asked in a whisper.

“They caught us off-guard,” Skoodge explained, following my example and keeping his voice low. “We were trying to regroup after the crash, treating injuries and figuring out where we were. They took my crew by surprise while I was scouting the area. All I could do was watch, there were too many of them for me to do anything.”

“Were they wearing any kind of uniform? Did they have weapons?”

“No uniforms, but they did have weapons.”

That likely disqualified my military theory, but what other organization would have weapons and enough people to capture seven aliens? I’d been out of the game too long, and it was showing. I’d just have to hope there was something useful at the crash site.

We passed a side gate that led to the main entrance, and I paused, considering. I’d intended to do a lap around the property to look for signs of people, or just anything out of the ordinary, before we headed in through the back entrance, but it occurred to me that if Alvin really was involved, he just might be keeping something in his office that could tell us what was going on.

“Hey,” I tapped Skoodge on the shoulder. “This way.”

I pushed open the gate as quietly as I could and slipped through, Skoodge right behind me. The parking lot was illuminated by a single light post, but the harsh yellow light was surrounded by a dark rim of shadows that left a covert path to the office if we stayed close to the fence.

“Where are we going?” Skoodge asked.

“The office of the guy who owns this place. I think he might know what happened to your crew, and I’m hoping there might be something in there that could help us find them. I just want to take a quick look, and then we can go to the crash site.”

Skoodge nodded his understanding.

There was a window on the small metal shack that looked out on the parking lot, and I could see that the interior was dark. I hoped that meant that Alvin wasn’t in, but I was still cautious as I left the shadows to climb the creaky stairs. I held my breath as I reached out to grab the doorknob.

It didn’t turn. I hadn’t really expected Alvin to have left it unlocked, but it had been worth a try. The second option was the window, if I could find a way to reach it. I glanced around for something tall that I could move without too much trouble.

“Mind if I try?” Skoodge whispered next to me.

“Huh? The door?” As I asked the question Skoodge was already taking something out of a pouch on his belt. He pulled his sunglasses off, tucking them into a pocket as he bent over the knob and fiddled with it for a moment. I heard the lock click and the door swung open.

“Hey, nice work.”

Skoodge smiled proudly, his large red eyes glinting in the light. “I used to be an invader. I’m good at this sort of thing.”

“I’ll remember that.” I stepped past Skoodge, pulling out the flashlight as I moved into the office. There was a light switch somewhere, but I thought maybe the flashlight would attract less attention, just in case. I cast the beam around, taking in the cramped space.

A small desk took up most of the room. Behind it was a narrow shelf overflowing with books and papers, shoved haphazardly into every available space. A small filing cabinet beside it was similarly piled with folders and loose paper, and more were strewn across the desk. I glanced over the top layer. It seemed to mostly be documents related to the junkyard, which made sense.

“Look at this.” Skoodge had moved behind the desk and was examining the bookshelf. I aimed the light at the title he was pointing to.

“The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters,” I read aloud. “Huh. I didn’t know Alvin was into this stuff.”

I moved the light along the shelf, skimming the titles. There were more, a lot more, covering every prevailing theory on extraterrestrials and then some. My stomach sank as each book confirmed what I’d suspected, but hadn’t really wanted to believe.

“He is involved,” I whispered, running a hand along the well-worn spines. Something behind the books caught the beam from the flashlight and reflected it back into my eyes. I angling the light away and squinted past the tightly packed volumes.

“There’s something back there,” I said. Skoodge peered over my shoulder as I pulled the books away, letting them fall to the floor as I dislodged them, slowly revealing a safe set into the wall.

“What do you think?” I asked, glancing to Skoodge. “Can you get it open?”

Skoodge smiled mischievously. “I think I have just the thing.”

A gun extended from his back, and he took it in hand, detaching it from the metal limb that had held it. Before I could ask what he was doing, he’d directed a narrow beam of energy at the safe. It cut through the metal with ease, slicing around the small door until it fell off with a loud clang.

“I was thinking something a little less destructive,” I hissed.

“Sometimes the direct approach works best,” Skoodge said with an apologetic shrug.

I shook my head and shone the flashlight into the open safe. For a disappointing moment I thought it was empty, before I noticed the small electronic tablet that lay at the very back. In the dark it’s black finish blended in with the shadows. I pulled it out and turned it over in my hands. Aside from having no branding that I could find, it seemed unremarkable enough. I turned the screen back to face me and switched it on. A blue logo appeared, painfully bright in the dark of the office: two crescents with an eye in the middle. 

“You’re fucking kidding me.”

“What is it?” Skoodge asked, pulling my hand down so he could see the screen.

“The Swollen Eyeball,” I said. Skoodge gave me a questioning look. I tried to think of a good way to explain.

“You boys lookin’ for somethin’?”

I spun around, dropping the tablet as I backed against the bookshelf. I heard the screen fracture as it hit the floor.

A dark figure stood in the doorway, obscured by shadows, but I recognized the voice. It was Alvin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First things first, I’m so sorry for missing the last update. I came down with a nasty cold (maybe the flu, I don’t know) and it really messed me up for a while. I tried to get the word out on my Tumblr, but for those of you who don’t follow me on there I’m sorry for the long silence. There’s not a great way to update people about stuff like that via AO3. Hopefully any future delays will come with a little more warning and I’ll be able to let people know ahead of time. I guess look for updates like that in the fic description, since that seems to be the best place to put a brief note that people can easily find.
> 
> Anyway, everything’s back to business as usual and I finally have the fourth chapter done. I’m gonna be taking an extra week for the next chapter just because I got behind on life stuff thanks to being sick and I need some time to catch up with things, but I hope to go back to every other week after that. I also need to catch up on comments--you’ve all been very supportive and I appreciate hearing from you so much, even though it takes me a while to reply sometimes!
> 
> Alright, enough boring life stuff, let’s talk about this chapter! Boy, I hope you guys like fics that are just ten pages of people talking about their feelings, because that’s what’s on the menu this week. Meant for the two big talking scenes to be a bit more separated but I made some choices that made that not work, so this is what we’ve got. The perils of posting as you write, I suppose. 
> 
> So, our boys are making some progress and Zim is learning that maybe friends can be a thing. Also finally introducing some important plot points in more detail, and kicking things off with the Resisty, who we’ll definitely be seeing more of. Love, love, love having Skoodge around, it’s been fun expanding on his character. We really don’t see much of him in the show and I definitely have my own spin on him, but what else is new? I should probably have OOC warnings all over this fic. 
> 
> It’s quite late and I think I’m on the verge of rambling, so I’ll leave it at that. Next update will be April 2nd.


	5. Tides

Dib

“Alvin, is that you?” I asked, my heart pounding out of control as I realized with mounting panic that I didn’t have a single plausible excuse for what I was doing in Alvin’s office. It wasn’t like I’d planned on getting caught. As I tried to think of what I could possibly say, a second figure appeared over Alvin’s shoulder. I couldn’t make out their features. 

“What’s going on?” The figure asked. 

“That’s a good question.” Alvin stepped into the small space of the office.

“I can explain,” I said, stalling for time. “I was looking for you, actually!” 

Alvin was silent as I pressed on. “I wanted to talk--about what you said earlier.”

“Ya shoulda taken my advice,” Alvin said, and there was something threatening in his voice that sounded very unlike him. It was unnerving, and I was suddenly very aware of just how little space remained between us,  _ and _ that he was blocking the only exit. 

“Yeah, I probably should have.” I tried for a casual laugh but it sounded nervous even to me. “But you know me, I can’t resist a mystery.”

“We have that in common. In fact, I’m workin’ on a good mystery right now.”

“Oh yeah?” I got the feeling we weren’t about to have a nice chat about our shared love of sleuthing. 

“Yeah. I’m tryn’a figure out who this kid is whose standin’ in my office with an alien, casual as you please.”

My heart jumped in my chest. I glanced at Skoodge and found two bright red eyes looking back at me--he’d never put his sunglasses back on! I looked back at Alvin but I couldn’t think of a damned thing to say.

“Here I thought you were just some lonely kid, nothin’ better to do than build gadgets in yer spare time. Tell me, you even human,  _ Dib?”  _

Blood pounded in my ears as I searched for a way to turn the situation around somehow. I needed to get Skoodge away from Alvin. If the Eyeball got their hands on him--on a real alien--it wouldn’t end well. But I was a member of the Eyeball too, I reminded myself, and that could give me an advantage. 

“Really?” I straightened and tried to sound indignant instead of terrified. “All this time, and you have no idea who I am? I figured you knew--I mean, how many years have we known each other?” 

I plucked the broken tablet from the floor and tossed it onto the desk. The blue eye stared up at us from the cracked screen. “I go by Agent Mothman.” 

The figure behind Alvin laughed. “You’ve gotta be kidding me. Agent Mothman? I thought they kicked you out ages ago.”

I bit back the anger that flared in my chest. This wasn’t the time.

Alvin, at least, wasn’t laughing. “Agent Mothman, huh? Did they send ya to check up on me?” There was a bitter edge to the question.

“No one sent me,” I answered, not sure what he meant. “I told you: I wanted to talk about your warning. When I got here I saw your office was open and I found  _ him  _ in here.” I gestured to Skoodge, who was looking confused. I hoped he would realize what I was trying to do, because I couldn’t risk tipping him off. “I was trying to stop him when you showed up.”

“That’s an interesting story,” Alvin said, and he gave me a long look before he went on. “But you know what I think? I think yer lyin’. So here’s how this is gonna go: Yer comin’ with me until I know fer certain yer not with the feds or one of Dark Booty’s goons.” 

“Dark Booty? What does he have to do with this?”

Alvin chuckled humorlessly. “Jim,” he called over his shoulder. “Bring the truck around. We’re takin’ these two in.” 

“Just hold it, I’m not going anywhere!” I took a step back from Alvin, only to ram into the bookshelf. There was nowhere to go, he had us trapped. 

“I think you’ll find you don’t have much of a choice.” Alvin reached under his jacket, and when he pulled his hand back it held a gun. 

“Alvin, what the fuck! It’s me!” I shouted, but Alvin’s face remained cold as he raised the gun and pointed it at me. 

“Don’t give me a reason, and I won’t have to use this.” 

This was insane. The entire situation was completely insane. 

“All right, we surrender,” Skoodge said calmly from beside me. He raised his hands and glanced my way, nodding ever so slightly as if to say that I should do the same. But I wasn’t going to surrender: this was all bullshit. Alvin had no right to threaten us, and I wasn’t going to let him take us anywhere. There was a way out of this, I just needed a plan. My hand tightened around one of the larger books on the shelf behind me.

“Fuck you!” I screamed and heaved the book at Alvin with all my strength. Alvin grunted and stumbled back as the book struck the side of his head, and I took advantage of the distraction to tackle him--or I tried to. He was a lot stronger than I’d expected and after a brief struggle he threw me off. I hit the desk and fell, sliding across the paper-strewn surface. Office supplies and old takeout boxes flew everywhere as I slammed into the opposite wall, pain exploding inside my skull. 

A hand grabbed the collar of my shirt and hauled me forward. I tried to twist away but a moment later something collided with the side of my head and the world blurred into nothing.

 

*  * *

Zim

 

“Look at this!” Gir trotted over to the hood of the car where I was sitting, and held out a long, twisted stick.

“Yes,  _ very  _ nice,” I said, taking the stick. 

Gir squealed in delight and ran back to the edge of the nearby woods where he’d been exploring while we waited for Dib and Skoodge to return. I tossed the stick to the ground with the other two he’d brought, and watched as he ducked in and out between the trees, stopping now and then to inspect a rock or leaf or whatever happened to catch his attention. 

Sticks and dirt were enough to keep Gir amused, but I was growing impatient. The other two had been gone far too long, and while I wasn’t very eager at that moment to see either of them, I also wasn’t interested in sitting around waiting. Hadn’t the point of this entire venture been finding a way off Earth  _ quickly? _

At least letting the two of them run off had given me time to clear my head, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what Dib had said. He was right: this wasn’t me. Hiding, running, afraid to face my past-- what a cowed, pathetic creature I’d become. I’d been running for so long, it was all I knew how to do anymore--and how ironic that Dib would be the one to make me see it. Dib, who’d caused all of this. If it wasn’t for him, I would have conquered Earth long ago, proven myself as the brilliant invader I was, and reclaimed my rightful place amongst the elite of Irk. Instead I’d wasted time on distraction after distraction, until my chance had passed me by, and the worst part was that I’d let it happen. I’d liked the challenge, liked having someone to distract me from the things I didn’t want to face, and somewhere along the way I’d let our rivalry become more important than my mission. It hadn’t even been about gaining victory over my opponent:I’d liked the thrill of devising something that would push him to his limits, and knowing he would come back at me with something twice as devious. What had happened next, how everything had fallen apart… I’d brought it on myself. I couldn’t even blame Dib, not really. He had only been trying to protect his world. 

I shook my head, as if I could physically dislodge the memories. These things, they were in the past, and dwelling on them would change nothing. It was time to stop hiding, time to get things back on track. There was only one thing that mattered, one thing that could fix the years of wasted potential: I needed to find a way to prove myself to the Tallest. It wasn’t too late--it  _ couldn’t _ be too late. Even when they’d had their fill of me and… even then, they’d let me live. And even now, the warriors they’d sent after me, hadn’t they said the Tallest wanted me alive? And what had they meant, about serving the Empire again? I’d been so convinced they were finally coming to carry out my sentence, that all I’d been able to think about was getting away. Could the Tallest have changed their minds? It was possible everything they’d said had been a trick, but what if the offer was real? 

It was too risky to simply turn myself over, I couldn’t be sure it wasn’t all a creative ploy by these warriors to capture me without a fight. No, I needed to approach them on my own terms, show the Tallest that I could be useful to them, and that I was still loyal. Once I’d planned to use Earth to that end, but Earth didn’t matter anymore. They’d never wanted it to begin with, and Operation Impending Doom II had ended long ago. But there was something else they might want, something that had just lain itself at my mercy: Skoodge’s little band of rebels. Oh, I could just see it. How the Tallest would sing my praises if I delivered an entire crew of traitors right into their hands. And Skoodge, the trusting fool, wouldn’t realize what I was planning until it was too late. 

Skoodge, though… Skoodge complicated things. If I delivered him to the Tallest as a member of the Resisty, he would be executed. As a traitor, it was technically what he deserved, but… Skoodge was such a fool, it would have been just like him to fall in with rabble like the Resisty and get in over his head before he realized what was happening. He’d always been so hopelessly gullible, I’d spent half my time in training just looking out for him. Of course, that was before things had gone bad; Before I’d ruined everything, and Tallest Miyuki had taken me out of the Invader program. Who could say how Skoodge might have changed since then. Could I really say I knew him anymore? Not really, and yet I couldn’t forget the young soldier who had so desperately needed… a friend. 

I wouldn’t give them Skoodge. But the others they could have, and maybe it would be enough. I had to try, what other choice did I have? Run off to a distant galaxy like I’d planned? I was done running. I wouldn’t spend the rest of my life as some pathetic exile, some shadow of what I could have been. 

A sound drew me from my thoughts, and I looked down to see Gir trying to climb up onto the hood of the car. He slipped on the smooth surface and I caught him, pulling him up the rest of the way. He sat down next to me.

“I ate a bug,” he informed me matter-of-factly.

“That’s disgusting.” 

He giggled. 

“When’s the big-head boy coming back?”

I couldn’t help a chuckle. “Soon.” 

“You know, his head doesn’t look so freakishly huge anymore,” I mused. “I think the rest of him actually caught up with it. Imagine if his head had just kept growing on its own!” I cackled.

“He’d look so funny!” Gir laughed along, rocking gleefully. 

“He would! With that giant head!” 

Gir rolled onto my lap, shrieking with laughter. In the distance a car turned onto our road, it’s headlights illuminating the dark street. As I watched it pass I wondered if I should check on Dib and Skoodge. They really should have been back already. 

The car stopped. I heard it reverse and turned to see it backing toward us. It slowed and stopped again alongside Dib’s car. 

I jumped to my feet, ready for a fight, but when the driver’s door opened it was Gaz who stepped out. 

“I was really hoping Dib had ditched you,” she grumbled, shutting the door behind her. 

“You again! What are you _ doing _ here? And how did you find me?” Why was it that suddenly  _ anyone _ could find me whenever they pleased? Skoodge, Dib, those warriors, and now Gaz too. 

“Relax,” Gaz said, her tone short. “Dib wasn’t answering my calls, so I tracked his cellphone. Where is he? I need to talk to him.” She glanced around as if she expected to see Dib hiding in the trees. 

“About what?” I didn’t trust Gaz, she’d ruined my plans in the past and her stunt with the security drones hadn’t helped my opinion of her. Besides, I didn’t need her complicating what was already a foolish and likely doomed endeavor. 

“Just tell me where he is.” She leveled me a look that said she was used to having her orders followed. 

“Why?” I crossed my arms. “What do you want with him?”

“I want to wring his stupid neck, but I’ll settle for yours if you don’t tell me where he is.” 

I doubted she was being serious--in my experience most humans demonstrated a strong preference for keeping their kin alive. Then again, Gaz had made no secret of her disdain for her brother in the past. 

“He’s gathering information.” She didn’t need to know more than that.

Gaz glanced around. “In there?” She asked, looking at the junkyard. 

“Yes.”

She looked back at me, already moving in the direction of the junkyard. “If I don’t find him, I’ll be back for you.”

“Wait!” I sprang onto my PAK legs and jumped off the car. “I know where they were going.” 

Gaz gave me a considering glance, but said nothing as I took the lead. Gir fell in beside me. I couldn’t have cared less about whatever Gaz wanted with Dib, but they really had been gone a long time and I needed to know if something had happened. Might as well do it with some backup, just in case. 

“They went in through here,” I said, pointing out a small chain-link gate in the fence. Gaz followed as I pushed through, revealing a large dusty parking lot and a rusty hovel on stilts that I recognized from earlier. 

“What’s he looking for  _ here?”  _ Gaz asked, taking in our surroundings with clear disapproval. 

“Come on,” I said, keeping an eye out for any sign that Dib or Skoodge had been there as I headed toward a large gate that seemed to lead to the rest of the compound. It appeared locked, but I could take care of that. 

“Wait,” Gaz said from behind me as we passed the small building where Dib had spoken with that irritating human earlier. I turned to see her looking at something on her phone. 

“Dib’s phone is here somewhere.” She looked up at the shack. “Dib! Are you in there?”

She ascended the narrow stairs and knocked on the door. I heard it creak open at her touch. Curious, I walked back around to the front of the shack, just as Gaz disappeared inside. 

“Is he there?” I asked, retracting my PAK legs so I could fit on the staircase. Gaz still hadn’t responded when I reached the top and peered inside. 

The interior was small and filthy. Books, papers, and old food containers lay everywhere and there was barely space to stand. Gaz was kneeling amongst the detritus, looking at something on the floor. I followed her gaze to a large book that lay open, its pages crumpled beneath it. A splatter of something dark stood out on the corner of the spine. 

Gaz picked up the book and held it out so the dim light coming from the single, grimy window fell across it. A small drop of the dark substance ran down the glossy cover, glinting red in the dusty yellow light. Fresh blood. 

Gaz dropped the book like it was something dangerous and abruptly stood. She turned in a quick circle, kicking papers and garbage aside, no doubt searching for the phone. Her elbow knocked a stack of folders off the desk, and something heavy clattered to the floor with them. She snatched it up and turned to me, anger flashing in her eyes. She held up the object, and I saw that it was Dib’s phone. 

“What happened?” She asked, her voice very low. 

“I… I don’t know.” I stepped back from the doorway, feeling like all the air had been squeezed out of my chest. Dib’s phone, the blood… something had gone terribly wrong. 

“What the hell happened!” Gaz demanded, her hands curling into fists. 

“I don’t know!” I insisted, stumbling against the wooden railing. “He wasn’t even meant to be here, he was supposed to go to the ship! I don’t know why he would have been in here!” 

In a single swift movement Gaz closed the distance between us and grabbed the collar of my sweater, yanking me toward her. “You piece of shit,” she growled in my face. “If you did this, I will take you back to my lab and strip that computer on your back down for spare parts.” 

“Master!” Gir cried from the bottom of the stairs, and I saw his eyes go red out of the corner of my vision. 

“Release me!” I struggled against her grip, but she had me pinned. “I did nothing to him!” 

“ _ Why  _ should I believe you?” She snarled, but I didn’t get a chance to respond because a moment later Gir leapt onto her back. She swore and released me to grapple with the flailing robot, and I took the opportunity to put more distance between us. 

“I don’t  _ care  _ if you believe me! I don’t need to prove anything to  _ you!”  _ I shouted as she managed to throw Gir off. He caught himself and landed on the ground unharmed, where he seemed to forget that he was in the middle of combat and started drawing designs in the dirt. 

“This is  _ my  _ concern, not yours!” I added, backing away from the building. 

“The hell it isn’t!” She shouted from the top of the stairs. “He’s my brother! And you, you have some fucking nerve! Showing up again after fucking off to who knows where, dragging him back into this bullshit, and now he’s missing, and there’s blood everywhere, and you don’t even know what  _ happened?  _ What, ruining his life wasn’t enough? You had to come back to finish the job?” 

“What are you talking about? I didn’t come back because of  _ Dib.”  _

“No, you don’t even care enough for that, do you? You just thought you’d manipulate him into getting you out of a mess you brought down on yourself, and he fell for it because you’ve got his head so fucked up that he can’t think about anything else when you’re around. You selfish little shit.” 

“That isn’t true. You know nothing!” I shouted, but there was more truth to her words than I wanted to admit. I  _ had  _ meant to manipulate Dib, my entire plan had hinged on it. The fact that I thought I could was the reason I’d involved him in the first place. 

“Oh, don’t I?” She took a step down the stairs. “So you aren’t on the run from your empire, and you didn’t come crying to Dib for help? Or maybe you mean that I don’t know that you’re an exile, that your own people didn’t even want you around. Is that what you mean?” 

“How…? How do you—”

“Don’t strain your circuits,” She snarled, taking another step. “I pulled apart the brain on one of those SIR units your soldier friends so kindly brought along, and extracted it’s memories. I know exactly what’s going on here, and if Dib wasn’t caught in the middle of it I’d turn you over to your government myself.” 

“I didn’t ask him to stay!” I protested, and it was true:  _ he  _ was the one who’d followed me to the lab, and  _ he  _ was the one who’d insisted we stick together after. I’d tried to make him leave. “I only wanted to repair my ship and leave.  _ Dib  _ was the one who insisted on staying.” 

“Of course he wanted to stay!” She shouted. “Do you have any idea what it did to him when you left? Well  _ I  _ do, because  _ I _ had to watch while he let his life fall apart so he could look for  _ you. I  _ had to stand by while he threw away his future because of  _ you!” _

_ I looked for you _ . Dib’s words came back to me, and I suddenly felt the sadness behind them like a tangible thing. It wrapped itself around my insides and wouldn’t let go. Why would he do that? Why would he be such a fool? It wasn’t fair to blame me, I wasn’t responsible for his choices. 

“What Dib chooses to do is not my—“

“Don’t you dare!” She took the last few steps to the ground. “You don’t get to make excuses! You don’t get to walk away from this fine while…” her voice choked and she pointed back toward the shack. 

“There’s blood in there,” she said, her words shaking. “There’s blood, and you were just sitting out there while someone did that to him, and you don’t even care. He was in there because of  _ you!”  _

“I didn’t know!” My head was spinning with everything she had said. I hadn’t known—how could I have? Except I  _ had _ known—I’d known the situation was dangerous, and I’d just let them go because I’d cared more about making some stupid plan than being there to help. Dib had risked his life for me, stayed when he didn’t have a reason to, talked to me when I’d been weak, and I’d let him get hurt. And Skoodge—he’d offered to help me when he was in trouble too, and I’d sat plotting how to betray him while he was captured or killed or worse. 

“I didn’t know,” I repeated, stumbling as I tried to step further away from her. 

“I don’t care!” Gaz shouted, but her voice sounded distant and unimportant. Why did I always make a mess of things? I should have left Dib alone, and Skoodge should have known better than to come to someone like me for help, and maybe the Tallest were right and I  _ was _ defective and I didn’t have a place in the Empire.

Hands grabbed my sweater and yanked me forward, snapping me out of my spiraling thoughts. 

“You made a mistake, coming back,” Gaz threatened, shaking me.

I grabbed her hands but I didn’t have the energy to struggle. “I didn’t want this,” I said, as if it mattered. 

“Then why are you here? Why did you come back?” Her voice trembled with rage but I noticed tears had welled in her eyes. One broke free and ran down her face, and she shoved me away, wiping at it.

“You selfish piece of shit,” she said, her face hidden behind her hands. “You’re going to help me find him. You owe him that fucking much.” 

“Of course I’m going to find him!” I hissed, trying to get myself under control. It wasn’t my fault that Dib had stayed, or that he had wasted time looking for me, but it was my fault that he had gotten involved in the first place--and I wasn’t about to leave Skoodge in danger either. I could fix this, I could make it right, I just had to stay focused.

Gaz let her hands fall to her sides. “You’re damn right you are.”

“Gir,” I called, returning her glare. “I need you to look for signs of Dib and Skoodge. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my lord!” Gir said, jumping to attention and beginning a sweep of the area. Gaz made a sound of disgust.

“We should check the building more thoroughly,” I suggested, keeping my distance as I moved past Gaz toward the metal shack. 

“Wait.” Gaz grabbed my arm. “Who’s Skoodge? And what were you two doing out here?” 

I stepped out of her grasp. “Skoodge’s crew was captured. We were looking for the people who took them.”

“Why?”

“Because Skoodge has a ship, and I need to get off of Earth. And I still do, unless you pulled open those soldiers’ heads too.”

“They got away,” Gaz said, in a tone that suggested she would have done just that if they hadn’t. “This crew, Skoodge, who are they? And do we know who captured them?”

“They’re members of a group of insurgents--a thorn in the side of the Irken Empire,” I explained, continuing toward the shack. Gaz followed. “I wouldn’t care what happened to them if I didn’t need their ship, but that was taken too. Skoodge believes humans were responsible, and Dib was helping him look for clues.” 

“Humans, huh?” 

“I know,” I smirked, stepping onto the rickety stairs. “It’s hard to believe you people could be competent enough to manage something like this.” 

“Don’t lump me in with other humans,” Gaz snapped. “We may as well be different species.”

We stepped inside the suffocating space of the shack. The book still lay beside the desk, the stain on its spine impossible to miss. I tried not to look at it or think what it might mean. 

Casting around the room for anything else that might be important, I noticed a hole of some sort in the back wall, behind a bookshelf, and moved in further to investigate, stepping over piles of refuse as I went. The floor around the shelf was covered in books, as if someone had pulled them off and simply dropped them. The hole, on closer inspection, looked to be some sort of safe that had been cut open, but it was empty and there was nothing to indicate what might have been inside.

“Look at this,” Gaz said from behind me. I turned to see her holding a slim, black device. She turned the screen to me, and at once I recognized the insignia of Dib’s paranormal network. Suddenly pieces began clicking together, disparate fragments of information connecting until I didn’t know how they had ever existed separately. 

“That has to be it!” I snatched the device away from her and stared at the cracked screen. “How did I not see it before? It’s so obvious! Who else would be behind this? ”

“Is Dib still part of that group of losers?” Gaz asked with disdain. 

“Yes.” I turned the device over, examining the ports on its side. 

“I agree it’s worth looking into, but why would they do something to Dib? He’s one of them,” Gaz pointed out. 

“Let’s find out.” I extended a compatible attachment from my PAK and hooked up the device, allowing me access to bypass its pathetic security measures. But almost immediately the blue insignia vanished from the screen and the connection went dead. 

“What? You  _ dare!?” _ I shook the thing but it remained unresponsive. 

“What did you do to it?” Gaz asked accusingly, grabbing it back from me. 

“Nothing! It’s--”

“You probably tripped a security measure,” she said. “Or the battery’s just dead.”

“Urgh, we don’t have time for this!” We needed to find Dib and Skoodge, why were we allowing ourselves to be distracted? 

“I have an idea,” Gaz muttered, slipping the dead device inside her coat and pulling Dib’s phone out of her pocket. She considered the lock screen for a moment, then began typing. The first few attempts were unsuccessful, but after the third or fourth it opened. For some reason this prompted a scowl in my direction.

“Figures,” she muttered, looking back at the phone. 

“What are you doing?”

“Getting some answers.” She scrolled through the phone quickly, opening programs and swiping them away when they failed to provide what she was looking for. We both jumped when the phone suddenly rang. Her fingers hesitated over the screen, and I peered over the desk to see what was displayed. There was no number or name, just the small blue insignia of Dib’s network. We looked at each other, and I saw my own disbelief mirrored on her face. Quite a coincidence. 

She pressed a button and the crackle of static filled the room. “Hello,” she said into the microphone, holding the phone out so we could both hear. 

“Agent Mothman?” asked a voice on the other end. It was deep and sounded like it was being disguised by some means.

“This is Agent Mothman,” Gaz replied, one eyebrow twitching as she said the words. I couldn’t help a grin: if this worked, we could get a lot of information.

“Mothman, we’ve been trying to contact you.” The voice sounded irritated. “Why weren’t you at the rendezvous point?”

Gaz hesitated. “I was… delayed.”

“I hope you’re taking this seriously. This situation isn’t a game, and the Eyeball can’t waste time on fickle agents.”

Gaz ground her teeth together, and for a moment I thought she was going to yell, but when she spoke she sounded completely calm. 

“I understand. I can’t reach the first rendezvous point. Is there somewhere else we can meet?”

There was a pause on the other end. “I’ll send you the location of another safehouse. But don’t expect us to--” The voice suddenly faltered and there was a clatter and some shuffling, and the sound of muffled voices.

“Is that Agent Mothman?” A second voice asked, barely audible. “You idiot, I told you--nevermind.” 

The second voice became clearer: “Agent Mothman, is that you? Where are you? Nevermind, just send us your location and we’ll dispatch an agent to meet you. You’re in far more danger than we realized.”

“What danger?” Gaz asked.

“There’s no time. Our agent will use the passphrase ‘marmalade.’ Don’t trust anyone else claiming to be with the Eyeball.”

“Why should I trust  _ you?”  _ Gaz asked, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow at the phone. I waved my arms at her, trying to signal that she should keep playing along and not blow her cover, but she ignored me.

“There’s no time for games, Mothman,” the voice rasped. “Send us your location.” 

“I have a better idea,” Gaz snarled. “how about you tell me where Dib is, and I don’t tell the police that I have evidence that you orchestrated the kidnapping of Professor Membrane’s son?”

There was a long silence, during which I swore I heard someone mutter “hang up” in a choked whisper.

“Who is this?” The second voice asked.

“You have five seconds to tell me where he is,” Gaz said, and the threat in her voice was enough to make me want to back away, and it wasn’t even directed at me. 

“Wait, just wait!” The voice blurted, panicked. “I didn’t know anything had happened to Mothman! We didn’t kidnap him--we’re trying to help him!” 

“Then start talking: why was he going to meet you at a safehouse, and what danger were you trying to warn him about?”

“Okay, okay! Let’s just all keep our heads. Look, I don’t know if this  _ is  _ related, but we called because we were concerned that Mothman might have had a run-in with a rogue sect of the Swollen Eyeball. It’s..complicated, but we think he might have gotten involved in something that they’re planning, something that could be dangerous. I swear, if I’d known something had already happened, I would have tried to get help.”

Gaz frowned, tapping the phone thoughtfully. “Let’s say I believe you: can you tell me where to find this ‘sect’?”

“I… No. We haven’t been able to figure out where they’re based. But we have some leads.”

Gaz let out an exasperated sigh. “So you’re useless, is what you’re saying?”

“Look,” the voice said, sounding like it was trying to hide its irritation, “maybe we can help each other. Would you be willing to meet with one of our agents? We can show you what we already know, and maybe you can fill us in on your side of things. At this point, we’ll take whatever help we can get.”

Gaz considered for a moment. “Fine, send your agent.” She ended the call and spent a few moments doing something--likely sending coordinates--before slipping the phone into her pocket.

“I’m going to find out what they know,” she said, looking up at me. “Are you coming?”

“I told you I am.” 

“Good.” Gaz turned and swept out of the small shack, leaving me alone amongst the books and debris. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, sorry for another late update. Turns out this writing thing takes a lot of time? Who knew. xD
> 
> On a personal note, writing this much this often is still super new to me, and I’m working on some ways to manage my schedule better. This story is immensely important to me and I want to start keeping up with it better and giving it the time it deserves. 
> 
> Anyway, I’m really excited to be bringing Gaz back into things, and finally giving her the chance to express some of the stuff she’s been dealing with. I’ve been thinking a lot about how Dib and Zim’s relationship has affected Gaz’s life, and it only seems right that in a story about reconnecting and addressing the past that she would play an important role. She’s been there since the beginning, and regardless of how she may have tried to remain uninvolved, Zim’s arrival changed her life as much as it changed Dib’s. She has as much unresolved shit wrapped up in this as they do, and she deserves a chance to find closure. I love Gaz and I’m so looking forward to writing how things play out with her in the rest of the story, I think you guys are gonna like it!
> 
> It’s also nice for Zim to get a perspective from someone who’s watched this all unfold from the outside. He really needed someone to knock some sense into him, and Dib certainly isn’t in any state to do that right now. In fact he could probably do with having Gaz yell at him for a bit, too. 
> 
> I promise the day will come when every chapter of this fic isn’t overflowing with drama. Someday everyone is just gonna sit down and drink some coffee and laugh about stupid shit, but that day is not today.
> 
> Next update is 4/16 and I am going to make it my personal mission to meet my own goddamn deadline for once.


	6. The Iris

I saw stars burning above me. I reached for them, but they were already so far away, and I was falling. Wind whipped around me, roaring past me as I fell. Except it wasn’t the wind that I heard, I realized, but the buzzing of insects. They swarmed around me, filling the spaces between the stars, pulling me down into darkness.

There was a sound. It sent shards of pain through my dream, and the images around me stuttered and slowly fell away. Reality took their place: stabbing pain in my head, and the smell of mildew and fresh coffee. Somewhere nearby people were talking, but I couldn’t make out what was being said.

I opened my eyes. I was in a small room that looked like someone had tried to fit a much bigger room inside of it. Every space was filled with something: stacks of books, crates overflowing with newspaper clippings, a shelf packed with canned food, a television nearly buried under VHS tapes. I sat up on the stained, yellow couch I’d been lying on, and immediately regretted it as pain shot through my head. Blood pounded in my ears and the room spun. I doubled over, clutching my head, and waited for the pain to subside. Eventually it became a mild ache, and that seemed to be the best I was going to get.

I sat back up slowly and stood. The world swayed and I felt a little nauseous, but I was more worried about figuring out where the hell I’d just woken up than I was about vomiting on the carpet. The last thing I remembered was throwing a book at Alvin. Had Alvin brought me here? And where was Skoodge? Shit, if Alvin had Skoodge I had to find him.

I moved cautiously across the room to the only door, which was slightly ajar. The smell of coffee grew stronger as I approached, as did the voices.

“...don’t think it’s a good idea, Al. Who knows who he might really be?”

The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.

“Cryin’ out loud Jim, I ain’t sayin’ we give him the keys to the place. I’m just sayin’, he’s here now, and maybe he can help.”

That voice I did recognize. So it was Alvin who was behind this--but why had he brought me here? And where _was_ here?

“You think Dark Booty wouldn’t send someone over here? He knows something’s going on, and what else would _he_ be doing here? I mean it can’t just be a coincidence.”

Dark Booty—they’d mentioned him before. What did he have to do with all of this?

“Look, we’re already takin’ precautions. Let’s just give him a chance to understand what we’re tryin’ to do here before we do anythin’ drastic.”

“If this backfires, it’s on your head.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I didn’t like the sound of any of this. What had I gotten myself involved in? And more importantly, how was I going to get out? I turned back to the room and looked for another exit, but there wasn’t even a window. So this was it: stay in here until someone came to check on me and maybe take them by surprise, or find something I could use as a weapon and try to fight my way out.

Before I could even begin to decide what was less insane, the door creaked behind me and I had to jump out of the way to avoid getting brained as it swung open.

Alvin was on the other side, and skulking behind him was a man I could only assume was Jim.

“You’re up. Good,” said Alvin, looking unsurprised to see me. He held out a mug of steaming coffee. “Here. You’ll probably be wantin’ somethin’ for that headache, too. I’ve got some Asprin ‘round here somewhere.”

“What the hell is going on?” I demanded, backing away a few more steps.“Why am I here?”

“All in good time,” he said, and pushed the coffee mug into my hand. I took it--only because it was that or spill boiling coffee on myself--but I didn’t drink any.

“Jim here thinks you’re here to spy on us,” Alvin said, nodding over his shoulder at Jim, who scowled. “To be honest, I thought maybe you were too. At first.”

“I’m not here to spy on you. I don’t even know what you’re doing that someone would _want_ to spy on you. I thought you were just an old guy who owned a junkyard.” I tried to keep my voice calm, but even I could hear the panic seeping through. This was bad. I’d been kidnapped by a guy who clearly had more than a few screws loose, I didn’t know where I was, and no one except Zim even knew anything had happened to me. And a lot of good that did me: he was more likely to become the next pope than he was to tell anyone I was missing.

Alvin chuckled to himself. “Up until last night, I was,” he said. Jim shifted uneasily behind him.

“Lemme ask you somethin’, Dib,” Alvin said, scratching his chin. “You ever get tired of not bein’ taken seriously?”

 _“Al,”_ Jim said in a warning tone, but Alvin waved him off.

“Well?” He asked, watching me closely, as if trying to analyze my reaction. I had no idea what he wanted to hear, and I wasn’t sure it was a good idea to get involved in whatever argument was happening between the two of them anyway.

“Right now, I just want to leave,” I said carefully. “I don’t want to cause any trouble for you guys, I just want to leave.”

“Me, I get _real_ tired of it,” Alvin went on, as if I hadn’t said anything. “Spent my whole life being crazy Al—the weird kid, the UFO guy, the loony old man.” He pointed to his head and his eyes widened.

“I think you know how that feels,” he said, staring at me with those wide eyes, and I couldn’t help recoiling a little.

“Not really,” I lied. I wasn’t up for having a heart-to-heart with my kidnapper.

“I think you do,” he said, leaning in. “What if I told you I have a way to prove them all wrong?”

“I’d say do whatever you want, just leave me out of it. I don’t know what you’re involved in, and I don’t care.”

Alvin gave me a questioning look, then suddenly laughed. “Hah, listen to me goin’ on while you’re over here thinkin’ I brought you here to kill you or somethin’! No wonder you’re so nervous.” Alvin clapped a hand on my back and it took every ounce of control I had to not push him away.

“You’re safe,” he went on, still chuckling. “I ain’t gonna hurt ya. Sorry about that business before with the gun an’ all, I thought you were with _them_.”

I didn’t bother asking who he meant by “them,” I didn’t want to get any more involved in whatever delusions he was suffering from than I already was.

Alvin took his hand away and I fought the urge to wipe my shoulder.

“I did a little diggin’ on you though,” he said, voice serious again. “Made sure you are who you say you are.”

There were only two things he could mean by that: either he had learned who my father was—something I didn’t tend to tell people because it inevitably made things weird—or he meant my agent identity, which also tended to go over badly, if for different reasons. Judging by his little speech about not being taken seriously or whatever, I guessed he meant the later.

“And I learned a few things,” he went on, “things we have in common. But, we’ll get to that in a minute. I was gonna get you some of that Aspirin.” Alvin turned and gestured for me to follow him, leaving me the option of squeezing awkwardly past Jim, or staying trapped in the windowless room. Since that wasn’t likely to get me any closer to an escape, I followed, ignoring the threatening glower Jim shot my way as I passed.

Alvin led me down a short, nondescript hallway that opened up into a small sitting area that was also devoid of windows--a detail that was leading me to suspect we were underground. Like the first room, this one was filled with odd assortments of items, all piled around an eclectic jumble of threadbare recliners, filing cabinets, and shelves. Alvin pulled open a narrow chest of drawers, causing the coffee maker on top to wobble dangerously as he rummaged around inside. After a moment he produced a small bottle of painkillers and tossed it to me. I caught it on instinct, but there was no way in hell I was going to eat anything Alvin gave me, regardless of how much my head was throbbing.  

“Actually, I’m okay,” I lied, setting the bottle down on a nearby stack of magazines. I set the coffee beside it too.

“Suit yourself,” Alvin shrugged. “I sure needed somethin’ after that bump ya gave _me_ ,” he said, tapping a bandaid on his temple. “You’ve got quite an arm on ya.”

“Sorry,” I muttered. I wasn’t sorry: he’d been pointing a gun at me.

“Water under the bridge.” Alvin waved it off as he poured himself a fresh cup of coffee. “We were both workin’ without all the pieces. I aim to fix that.”

Jim slunk into the room, throwing a scowl my way.

“I’m going to check on the others,” he said to Alvin.

“We’ll come too,” Alvin said, gesturing to me with his coffee mug. Jim’s jaw tightened, but he just nodded and crossed the room, where he opened a narrow wooden door, revealing a staircase that led upward. Jim didn’t wait for us, but Alvin paused by the door, holding it open.  

“After you,” he said.

I hesitated, but what choice did I really have? I could be stubborn and stay in the basement forever, or I could go along with things for now and try to figure out what was going on and maybe get a chance to escape. So I followed after Jim, my sense of trepidation building as I climbed the worn stairs. I tried not to imagine what might be in store for me, or who these others were, but it was a losing battle, and the images my mind conjured up did nothing for my efforts to remain calm and alert.

We stepped out into a tiny, cramped kitchen. My eyes went straight to the window over the sink, hoping I could get some idea of where I was, but it was nighttime and all I could see was a dim skyline interrupted by jagged treetops.

“Just through there,” Alvin said, pointing as he closed the basement door. “The others are in the den.”

Jim had already left in the direction Alvin had pointed, so again I followed.

I stopped in the living room entrance, my heart jumping into overdrive as I saw the dozen or so people seated around the small room. They were all crowded around computer screens, drinking coffee and talking in hushed tones, but the murmur of conversation died instantly as I entered, and every face turned to me.

I heard Alvin step up behind me. “Evenin’ everyone,” he said. “I want to introduce you to a new friend of the Iris. This is Agent Mothman.”

I saw several people exchange glances.

“Mothman, welcome to the Iris,” Alvin beamed at me.

“The Iris?” I asked, feeling increasingly aware of the eyes on me.

“Just a little somethin’ we like to call ourselves,” Alvin said with a chuckle. “I’m not surprised ya haven’t heard ‘bout us, though. We like our privacy. But I’ve got a good feelin’ about you, kid, so I’m gonna let you in on the secret.”

Alvin made a sweeping gesture around the room. “The people in this room, we’re the _real_ Swollen Eyeball, the ones who haven’t forgotten the principles that this network was founded on. While the rest of the Eyeball frets over bake sales for their next conference, we’re out here doin’ the real work—findin’ evidence, and puttin’ it to use. Isn’t that right?” The last question he addressed to the room, and there was a murmur of agreement.

A secret group of delusional weirdos within the Eyeball? That was just great. Getting kidnapped by a cult was just the end to my day that I’d been hoping for. And now I got to have the lovely job of playing messenger and trying to tell the rest of the Swollen Eyeball about these guys, too--assuming I got out of this alive. Lucky me.

“I have a few things to show our new friend,” Alvin said, patting my shoulder. “I’ll be back in a little bit. Jim’ll be here if you need anythin’.”

Jim nodded grimly, and Alvin steered me out of the living room and into a small entryway.

“You can relax,” he said quietly as he opened the front door of the house, letting in a gust of cold air.  “I’m a man of truth, not violence. We’re not here to hurt anyone, we just want to see that the world learns the truth.”

“The truth about what?” I asked as we stepped outside. With all his grandstanding and speeches, he still hadn’t actually told me what any of this was about, and I was starting to get curious in spite of myself.

“What do _you_ think?” Alvin asked, smirking, but he didn’t wait for a reply. “Nevermind. You’ll see.”

He stepped off the porch, and I realized as his back turned to me that I could try to run. I was fast, and Alvin was old, and he was far enough away that even if he tried to stop me, I was certain I could get away. Assuming he didn’t still have that gun, and assuming I was willing to leave without knowing what had happened to Skoodge. And I wasn’t.

Instead, I tried to get a sense of where I was as I followed Alvin across the yard. It was hard to make out much in the dark, but the dim light coming through the windows of the small house helped a little. It looked like we were in a large clearing. The house, which I could only assume was Alvin’s, stood to one side, pressed up against a thick wall of trees. A dozen or so cars were parked near the porch or in the long, dusty driveway that twisted out of sight. Beyond Alvin loomed a large building—bigger than the house—and by the silhouette I guessed it was a barn.

“Tell me, why did you join the Eyeball, Dib?” Alvin asked as we trudged over the scraggly grass.

I didn’t answer right away. I wasn’t in any mood to share my thoughts with Alvin, but he seemed to have decided to place some sort of bizarre trust in me, for reason I couldn’t begin to imagine. Creepy as that was, maybe—just maybe—if I could play into what he wanted to hear, I might have a better chance at staying on his good side and finding out what had happened to Skoodge.

“I wanted to search for truth, I guess,” I said, hoping I sounded genuine and not like I wanted to be anywhere else in the universe, which was how I felt.

“You guess?” Alvin snorted. “That doesn’t sound like the Agent Mothman that I’ve been hearing about.”

“Yeah, well, you know what they say about meeting your heroes.” Now was not the time for being a snarky ass. Too bad I was shit at keeping my mouth shut.

“Come on Dib, you can be honest with me. You’re not like the other agents, are ya? You don’t fit in, not even ‘round people like you—because you see the world different from others. You see the truth, while others scratch their asses and squirrel away evidence like fuckin’ acorns. And for that you’re called crazy, and ignored even by your own. Isn’t that right?”

“Guess you really did your research, huh?” I said, hoping I could get away with being vague. This really wasn’t a topic I wanted to discuss with Alvin, or anyone for that matter, but it wouldn’t help things to tell him to fuck off.

“I did,” Alvin replied. “You know, when I found you in my office, I thought you were an alien—either that, or workin with ‘em.” He laughed.

“Sorry ‘bout the scare I gave ya. It’s been one hell of a couple days, I wasn’t thinking straight. I’m glad I found ya there though, ‘cause I think you’re just the kinda person this operation needs. You know, I’ve spent a lot of time gathering together people like you. People who aren’t content to just file away evidence and let it rot, people who are willin’ to take action. I think you’re that kinda person, Dib. Am I wrong?”

“I think evidence of the paranormal should be shared, if that’s what you mean.” I wasn’t entirely sure that _was_ what he meant. I felt like he was skirting around something that he didn’t want me to know yet.

“Good.” He nodded to himself. “I’m gonna need people like you for this. I’ve got somethin’ big, Dib. Somethin’ that’s gonna change the world. And while the rest of the Eyeball is sittin’ around on their hands, we’re gonna prove ‘em all wrong. We’re gonna do what they’re too coward to do.”

“What do you mean? What did you find?” I asked, but I had a feeling I already knew.

“You’ll see. We’re almost there.”

We had reached the large building, and I could see that I’d been right in my guess that it was a barn. It looked old, and not well maintained, but sturdy enough.

Alvin led us around to a side door and paused in front of it, his hand resting on the latch.

“I’m putting a lot of trust in you, showin’ you this, you understand?” He asked, his breath clouding in the chill air.

“What’s in there?” Maybe it was the dark, or the grisly death that potentially awaited me if I was stupid enough to follow Alvin into a barn in the middle of nowhere, but I was suddenly a little nervous.

“Nothin’ dangerous—at least, nothin’ that’s in any position to do harm.”

I didn’t find that very reassuring, but Alvin was already opening the door. Light poured out, blinding me for a moment, and when I could see again, Alvin was already inside, holding the door open for me to follow. I stepped in after him and let the heavy door swing shut behind me.

The barn was largely empty. Some old, rusty junk was piled to one side, but the rest was open. Cobwebs hung from the rafters, old straw littered the floor, and in the center, illuminated by a set of floodlights, was a large enclosed trailer, like something that might be used to transport animals. Standing around it, rifles clutched in their hands, stood four people. They all turned to look at us as we entered, paying particular attention to me. The one nearest us, a woman in a red plaid jacket, adjusted the grip on her gun threateningly as we approached.

“Al,” she said, nodding a greeting but not looking away from me. “New recruit?”

“That’s right,” Alvin replied, clapping me on the back. “Agent Mothman. He’s here to see what we found.”

“Agent _Mothman?”_ She curled her lip, looking me up and down with clear disgust. “You do know who this kid is, don’t you, Al?”

“Who I bring in is my business, Pat. You just worry about keeping those things from getting out.”

Pat scowled but didn’t push the issue.

“Come on,” Alvin said, beckoning me over to the back of the trailer. I followed cautiously, keeping an eye on the four armed guards. They moved in behind us as I stopped next to Alvin, but they seemed to be more concerned about the trailer than about me.

“You’re not one of those idiots who waste time lookin’ for answers just to stick ‘em in a dusty archive so you can sit around feelin’ superior,” Alvin said over his shoulder, taking a key from his pocket and opening a large padlock that hung from a thick chain around the handles of the trailer door. “No, I think you’re a lot like me, Mothman. You’ve tried to get people to see the truth. But they’re too afraid, aren’t they? They don’t want to know. It’s easier for them to just pretend the world is as small as they see it. But it’s not, is it? No, you and me, we’ve seen the truth.”

He swung the doors open and stepped aside. The inside was dark, and against the glare of the floodlights it took me a moment before my eyes adjusted.

Several hunched figures slowly came into view against the dark interior—eight in total, and they weren’t human. I’d never seen so many different kinds of aliens all in one place. Under other circumstances, I would have been fascinated, but as my vision adjusted to the thick shadows inside the trailer I saw the bruises and cuts on their skin, the manacles and ropes and chains that were keeping them restrained, and the terror in their eyes as they looked out at us. This had to be Skoodge’s crew, I realized. So Alvin and his fanatics were the ones who had found them after all, just like we’d suspected.

A movement at the back of the trailer caught my eye: a small green figure leaned out past an alien with ram-like horns. It was Skoodge! He looked unharmed, and more curious than frightened. I resisted the urge to call out to him, or to do something to let him know I was going to find a way to get him out. I couldn’t risk it with Alvin looking over my shoulder. If there was any chance of getting him or the others out of this, I had to keep Alvin convinced that I was on his side.

Skoodge didn’t say anything either, just held my gaze, his forehead wrinkled with a look of deep concern. I felt like he was trying to communicate something, but I had no idea what, and then the doors were closing and all I could do was watch, frozen, as Alvin replaced the padlock. He turned back to me as he finished, a knowing expression on his face, like he thought he understood what was going on inside my head, like he thought I’d be impressed by a piece of shit like him. I felt sick. I wanted to slam his smug face into the trailer and tell him exactly what I was thinking, and if there hadn’t been four armed fanatics standing behind me, I probably would have tried.

“They wanted proof,” he said, banging a fist on the door. “We’ve got it. And after tomorrow, everything will be different.”

“Tomorrow?” I asked, trying to get myself under control.

“That’s right.” There was something unsettling in his eyes, obsession maybe or something darker.

“What happens tomorrow?” I tried again, but he shook his head.

“I want to tell you, I do. But I don’t know for sure that you’re on our side yet. I can’t risk anything gettin’ in the way of this. If you’re the kind of person I think, you’ll understand that.”

Fine, Alvin could be tight-lipped if he wanted, it didn’t really matter. I knew what he was going to do, even if I didn’t know the specifics. It was the same thing I’d wanted to do with Zim, the same thing we all wanted: to reveal that aliens existed. I’d wanted that so badly once, I had been willing to do anything for it. I probably would have jumped at this opportunity five years ago, but now, faced with the evidence that could make everything I’d fought for since I was a kid worth it, all I could think about was how terrified they’d looked. If this was the reality of that dream, maybe it didn’t need to come true. At least, not like this.

“Come on, there’s more,” Alvin said, pulling me out of my thoughts. He led us away from the trailer, back out into the frigid night. I followed in a daze, feeling angry and sick and wishing desperately for some space to just think.

“This is the real kicker,” Alvin said as we rounded the opposite side of the barn. With the barn blocking the light from the house, it was hard to make out what exactly we were looking at, but there was something familiar in the bulky outline of the thing, and after a moment I realized I was looking at a spaceship not unlike the one Zim and I had found at Alvin’s junkyard, except this one seemed to be much more intact.

“We’ve got everything we could possibly need,” Alvin was saying excitedly, but I lost what he was saying after that. My thoughts were already forming an escape plan. Skoodge has said this ship was still in working order, and if that was true, then it was just a matter of getting Skoodge and his crew out of the barn and safely to the ship. Once we were inside, Alvine wouldn’t be able to stop us. We could leave him in the dust, go find Zim, and then… and then, whatever came next.

I tried to ignore the way my stomach twisted when I thought about that, because I knew very well what came next. The closer I got to actually finding a ship for Zim, the closer all of this came to being over, and I wasn’t ready for that, not yet. I knew that it didn’t make any sense to feel that way, and it probably meant there was something hideously wrong with me that I did, but in spite of everything--almost being blown up, being threatened at gunpoint, getting kidnapped--I still would have given almost anything for just one more day to pretend that running from aliens and looking for spaceships was more important than going to work or paying bills or fixing my life.

And right now, for just a little longer, it _was_ , and I needed to stop sulking over shit I couldn’t change and focus on what needed to be done now. I wasn’t going to let Skoodge end up dead in a lab somewhere--and fuck, I could almost hear my grade-school self screaming at that. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to prove that aliens existed, of course I wanted that. But not like this, this was wrong. There were better ways, ways that didn’t involve anyone suffering. I didn’t need to capture a bunch of aliens and keep them tied up in a barn to prove myself, I was better than that, and I wanted the Eyeball to be better than that too.

“I want to help,” I said, turning to Alvin with what I hoped was a convincingly determined expression. “What do I have to do to prove you can trust me?”

Alvin had been in the middle of saying something, and he stopped mid-sentence, looking a bit surprised.

“There might be somethin’,” he said slowly. “I know a bit more about you than I let on, more than just your history with the Eyeball.”

A cold feeling crept over me as I realized where this was going.

“We need a way to go public with what we have here, a way to prove that this isn’t a hoax. We have to make sure no one can cover this up or discredit us.”

“And that’s where I come in?”

“It is,” Alvin said. “Or maybe I should say, that’s where your old man comes in.”

Of _course_ , I should have guessed from the very beginning what he was after. Alvin didn’t want my help because he saw something promising in me as an investigator, he just wanted a way to get to my dad. There was really no reason for the bitter resentment that suddenly flared in my chest, I didn’t even want to be a part of Alvin’s fucked up plans, but maybe it had been a little nice to believe, for just a little while, that someone from the Swollen Eyeball--even someone like Alvin--had actually wanted me around.

“Someone like Professor Membrane could really lend us the credibility we need,” Alvin went on. “He could verify our findings, and with his endorsement, no one would question us.”

Alvin stopped talking to stare at me expectantly, and I tried to think of some way I could possibly use this to my advantage. One thing was certain, there was no way in hell I was going to tell my dad about any of this. I hadn’t talked to him in years, and I wasn’t going to call him up after all this time to rave about aliens. If I talked to my dad again, it was going to be so I could shove my success as a paranormal investigator under his nose, and since that day hadn’t come yet, Alvin was out of luck. Of course, he didn’t need to know that.

“That’s a good idea,” I said, tapping my chin like I was thinking. “But we’ll need something substantial to convince him this is worth his time.”

“I take it you have an idea?”

“Well, if you’d let me, I could take some samples—blood, skin, mucus. If we brought that to him, he couldn’t deny we have something unexplainable. It should be enough to get his attention.”

Alvin looked uncertain, and I was afraid he wouldn’t take the bait. It was the only thing plausible excuse I’d been able to think of that could get me in alone with Skoodge’s crew, and hopefully once I was inside I could figure out a way to free them.

“Fine, but I’m sure you understand that someone’ll have to go with you, to make sure those samples end up in the right hands,” he said with a suspicious edge to his voice.

It didn’t matter, he’d fallen for it, I was in. I just had to keep the charade up long enough to get inside that trailer alone, and I’d figure out the rest then.

“I’d be appalled if you let a stranger run off with alien samples and didn’t send someone to keep an eye on them,” I scoffed. I’d agree to whatever he wanted as long as it got me inside that trailer. Empty promises were easy to make.

“One more thing,” Alvin said, and he glanced around before continuing as if he thought someone might be listening in. “What we’re doin’ here, this is bigger than just tellin’ the world that aliens exist, you understand? There are things at stake here, things that are gonna affect a lotta lives if we don’t make this happen. So you just keep that in mind, case you decide to get any ideas. You don’t want that many lives on your conscience.”

“What things? What are you talking about?” I couldn’t tell if Alvin was just nuts, or if he really knew something.

Alvin shook his head. “Not yet. You get us Professor Membrane, and I’ll tell you everything.”

“Fine,” I agreed, since It didn’t look like I was going to get anything else out of him.

“All right, whaddya need?” Alvin said, rubbing his hands together.

Right, I’d need to make this convincing. “Do you have any medical supplies? Syringes, in particular, and something to sterilize the tools and disinfect the sample areas. I’ll also need clean gloves and something to store the samples in. Sandwich bags would work.”

“I should be able to scrounge somethin’ up,” Alvin nodded, scratching his chin. “Come on, I’ll show ya what I’ve got.”

Alvin led me back to the house and we spent some time digging through the piles of stuff in his basement until I found everything I would have needed if I had really intended to take some field samples, plus a few extra first aid supplies I stuffed into my pockets upon remembering the state some of Skoodge’s crew had been in.

Then it was back to the barn, my makeshift lab kit stuffed inside an old grocery bag. The guards were just as unhappy to see me this time, and I was very aware as I eyed their rifles of exactly how wrong this plan could go. I was counting on superior numbers, and  Skoodge having that handy irken PAK which seemed to hold an endless supply of useful items, including weapons, and I just had to hope it would be enough, because I didn’t have another plan.

Alvin opened just one side of the trailer door, foregoing dramatics this time, and stood aside to allow me access. I took a steadying breath. This was it, there was no turning back.

For a brief moment, the thought did cross my mind that if by some strange miracle I could actually convince my dad to come down to Alvin’s barn and look in that trailer, he might finally believe me. And for the space of a breath that thought was more tempting than all the fame and recognition I’d ever wanted. And if I’d thought for a second that I could live with myself, I might have tried. But I didn’t want to be that kind of person, and as quickly as it had materialized, the thought was gone, and I was stepping inside the trailer.

I could feel Alvin’s eyes on me as I moved into the darkness, and I knew the guards were watching too, guns at the ready.

The trailer was humid, and the stagnant air was thick with the smell of bodies that had been cramped in a small space for too long. The aliens looked up at me, some afraid, some defiant, some expressionless. It was surreal to be in there with them, to know that I was surrounded by life forms that had evolved on planets in distant galaxies. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen aliens before, but against the mundane setting of the barn they seemed vividly real somehow.

I stepped carefully past them, keeping my eyes down. I didn’t want them to think I was a threat, and I didn’t want to gawk at them like they were some kind of sideshow, despite my undeniable curiosity.

Skoodge was all the way in the back. When I got to him I knelt down and opened the plastic bag, taking out a piece of cotton and some alcohol so it would look to Alvin like I was doing something. I hadn’t really thought past getting inside the trailer, and the brilliant plan of escape I’d hoped would come to me once step one was out of the way wasn’t coming.

Skoodge was watching me curiously, and I was glad that he didn’t seem to be afraid.

“Hey,” I whispered, hoping I was quiet enough that Alvin wouldn’t hear.

“Hey,” Skoodge replied.

“I’m gonna get you out of here,” I mouthed more than said. Skoodge looked like he hadn’t understood. I’d probably been too quiet, but I didn’t dare say it louder, so I just gave what I hoped was a reassuring smile. Damnit, why hadn’t I thought this through? I needed a plan, and I needed it now or Alvin was going to start wondering why I wasn’t stabbing these guys with needles and swabs.

The sudden bang of a heavy barn door being flung open made me jump and I dropped the bottle I was holding, spilling the disinfectant over the floor and filling the trailer with the sharp scent of alcohol.

“Al, you need to see this!” A voice I recognized as Jim shouted in a panic.

“What’s goin’ on?” Alvin asked, and a moment later Jim marched into view, waving a tablet.

“Look!” He shoved the tablet at Alvin and they both stared at the screen. I couldn’t see the picture, but a tinny voice carried into the trailer. It sounded like some kind of news segment.

“...reportedly missing. The search is ongoing, but police say they have several promising leads. We were unable to reach Professor Membrane for comment.”

I felt oddly cold as I realized what I was listening to. They were talking about me. Someone had told the police I was missing—but who? Zim wouldn’t have gone to the police, would he? That didn’t make any kind of sense, but no one else knew what had happened.

Regardless of how they’d found out, I was relieved to know that people were looking for me. It probably meant I was less likely to be shot and thrown in a ditch somewhere, and that was comforting. But at the same time, I couldn’t help a twinge of irritation at knowing my dad was probably involved now, which meant there probably wasn’t a way to get out of this whole thing without at least telling him I was fine--promptly to be follow by an invitation to fuck off.

“Hey!” Alvin called into the trailer, startling me out of my thoughts. “Kid, come here.”

I grabbed my bag of supplies and walked to the door. “What?”

“You heard this?” He asked, pointing to the tablet.

“Yeah.”

“You’re gonna call them and tell ‘em everythin’s fine. You understand?” He stared me in the eye as he spoke, a threatening edge to his tone.

I glanced between them, Jim looking like a spooked rabbit and Alvin every bit the man that had pointed a gun at me. “Yeah, okay. No problem.”

I reached into my pocket for my phone and felt nothing. I tried the other side of my jacket, and then the pockets in my jeans, but nothing. Shit, where the hell was it? Had Alvin taken it?

“Here.” Alvin held out a weathered flip phone. “Use this. And don’t call the police, call your dad. Tell him you’re fine, and he should call off the search.”

I took the phone, feeling newly aware of the gravity of my situation. I’d started to feel like I had some control over this whole thing, with my little escape plan and my lies, but if being forced to call my family and tell them I was fine while my kidnapper watched didn’t scream hostage situation, I didn’t know what did. Maybe I could deal with my dad being involved if it meant people were actively trying to find me, because maybe this situation was a little more dangerous than I’d thought.

I opened the phone and stared at the generic sunset wallpaper. I wasn’t going to do what Alvin wanted, that I knew. Calling off the search would have been about the stupidest thing I could have done. But Alvin didn’t need to know who I was really talking to, and maybe, if I was careful, I could use this to tell someone where I was. The question was, who should I call?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I don’t have time to write much here today, so I want to go over the important stuff. Sorry for the late update, life has been hectic lately. On that note, I’m gonna have to give myself a little more time for updates for the next few months. I’ll probably post some more details on what’s been going on life-wise over on my Tumblr, but for now I’ll say that I just have a bunch of unexpected stuff to deal with right now, and as much as I love writing this fic, the only way I can keep up with it right now is to go back to monthly updates. Things should be calming down around the end of June, and I hope to go back to updating twice monthly then. 
> 
> I didn't really proofread this so I apologize for any weird errors. I'll go back over it soon and try to fix anything like that. 
> 
> Thanks for your patience with my terrible time management, and for sticking with this thing! You guys are the best. <3


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